Contractor has begun work on onshore cable infrastructure for huge North Sea project
Preliminary construction work for what will be the world’s largest offshore windfarm has taken place in Yorkshire, England.
Dogger Bank Wind Farms, the joint venture between SSE Renewables and Equinor, consists of three offshore windfarm sites in the North Sea, totalling 3.6 GW: Creyke Beck A (1.2 GW), Creyke Beck B (1.2 GW) and Teesside A (1.2 GW). All three sites were successful in the UK’s September 2019 contracts for difference auctions.
Jones Bros Civil Engineering, one of the UK’s leading civil engineering contractors, has been awarded the contract to install the onshore cable infrastructure for the Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck B sites. The works will also involve completing bulk earthworks at the onshore HVDC convertor station locations in East Riding.
The onshore infrastructure includes installing approximately 32 km of electrical cables in ducts. The ducts will be installed within trenches and where required via drilling under existing infrastructure and natural obstacles.
The completed onshore cable will transport the power generated by the two offshore sites, from the landfall point at Ulrome to the new convertor stations (one per project) in the south of Beverley. The cable route will be built adjacent to the A1079, finally connecting to the existing National Grid substation at Creyke Beck, Cottingham.
The works contract also includes vegetation clearance, preparing access junctions and constructing a temporary access road to facilitate the main works, and installing pre- and post-construction land drainage.
The full works are expected to take approximately two years to complete.
Dogger Bank Wind Farms managing director Steve Wilson said, “Getting the first spade in the ground is a major moment for a project that has already been over a decade in the making.”
Located in the North Sea, Creyke Beck A and B are approximately 130 km from the Yorkshire Coast, with Teesside A located approximately 200 km offshore. Water depth ranges from 20 m to 35 m. The first project is expected to achieve first power in 2023.
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