Jan de Nul’s Voltaire, the largest offshore jack-up installation vessel built to date, is set to start installation work at the Dogger Bank wind farm, the world’s largest offshore wind farm over the coming weekend. The 260 metre tall turbines, which are almost twice the height of the London Eye, will be installed some 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire using a specialist vessel with a lifting capacity of 3,200 tonnes.

The Dogger Bank wind farm is occupying an area almost as large as Greater London, on seabed that once formed a land bridge between the UK and Europe. When fully complete it will have an installed capacity of 3.6GW of renewable electricity – more than two and a half times the size of the next largest offshore wind farm.

Pivotal Haliade-X installation

The commencement of the campaign to install GE Renewable Energy’s 13MW Haliade-X turbines, one of the largest and most powerful in the world, is a pivotal moment for the landmark project, which is being developed and built by the UK developer SSE Renewables in a joint venture with Norway’s Equinor and Vårgrønn (a joint venture by Eni Plenitude and Hitec Vision).

“Dogger Bank is one of the biggest and most complex engineering and infrastructure projects anywhere in the world,” SSE CEO, Alistair Phillips-Davies said. “Our progress here with our joint venture partners Equinor and Vårgrønn proves that offshore wind projects of this size are now mainstream and will help turbocharge the transition to the cheaper, cleaner and more secure energy system we all want to see.”

However, Phillips-Davies added that in order to reach energy goals many more Dogger Banks will be needed.

SSE Renewables is lead operator for the development and construction of Dogger Bank Wind Farm. Equinor will be lead operator of the wind farm on completion for its expected operational life of around 35 years. Vårgrønn brings specialist offshore wind expertise to the project.

Read also: World’s largest jack-up vessel arrives in the Port of Able Seaton

Willing to learn more about the complexities of catering to the offshore wind demands? Join the upcoming Project Cargo Summit, taking place on September 6 and 7 in Bremen. Book your spot here!