Jan De Nul Group’s jack-up installation vessel Voltaire marked some milestones at the Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm. The vessel installed the first of 277 GE Haliade-X turbines, which subsequently produced the first power. 

The turbine blade tips reach 260 meters above sea level, the same height as New York’s iconic Rockefeller Centre, Jan De Nul noted, adding that each blade is 107 meters long.

“The installation of the first turbine at Dogger Bank A is an important moment for our workforce, our suppliers and of course our project partners on the path to first power which will be a landmark moment as we start to generate electricity for the first time. Dogger Bank is a major infrastructure project which is benefitting the economy as well as supporting the UK’s future energy security and making a major contribution to the UK’s ambitious Net Zero targets,” project director for Dogger Bank, Olly Cass said.

Manager Jan De Nul Offshore Renewables at Jan De Nul Group, Jan Van Impe added, “Our Voltaire has proven that the scale and characteristics of the Dogger Bank offshore turbines offer the perfect challenge for this next generation state-of-the art jack-up installation vessel. We are excited to have installed the very first offshore GE Haliade-X turbine on the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in a sustainable and efficient way, and we are looking forward to continuing this mission with industry leaders SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vårgrønn to further construct the energy transition for the UK energy market.”

The first turbines have been installed around 130 km from the Yorkshire coast, and connected via inter-array cables to the UK’s first unmanned HVDC offshore substation, which was set in place earlier in 2023.

Dogger Bank will be the first High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connected wind farm in the UK due to its distance from shore, introducing new transmission systems to the UK and paving the way for other large offshore wind farms.

Dogger Bank A, B and C will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm. This first phase of the joint venture project between SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vårgrønn is scheduled to be fully operational in summer 2024. When complete, all three phases – Dogger Bank A, B and C will power the equivalent of 6 million UK households or about 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity demand.