Construction Begins on World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm in the UK

Energy firm SSE announced on Friday that construction for the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farms project had begun. The huge offshore wind farm is located near Ulrome, a coastal village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

RELATED: WORLD’S LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND FARM BEGINS OPERATIONS OFF ENGLAND'S COAST

“Getting the first spade in the ground is a significant milestone on any project, but for what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, this is a major moment for a project that has already been over a decade in the making,” said in a statement, Steve Wilson, managing director of Dogger Bank Wind Farms.

Three sites

SSE further revealed that the farm consists of three 1.2 GW offshore sites: Creyke Beck A, Creyke Beck B, and Teesside A. The project is said to have the capacity to power more than 4.5 million homes per year.

It uses GE's Haliade-X wind turbine. The turbine has a 12-megawatt generator and is 260 meters tall.

The project will help the UK's eco-friendly plans. "Dogger Bank Wind Farms will play a critical role in the UK’s effort to achieve net-zero through the use of low-carbon fuel sources," added Wilson.

SSE is working with Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK, a firm headquartered in North Wales, for the construction of the farms.  “There will be up to 100 Jones Bros personnel, from management to apprentices and trainees, on-site at the height of the works," said Garod Evans, Jones Bros contracts director.

“This is a really significant project to be involved with, and it’s exciting for us to play a part in delivering support to what will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.”

The UK and Europe, in general, are big on offshore wind. According to a report by industry body WindEurope, in 2018, Europe connected 409 new offshore wind turbines to the grid across 18 projects and now has a total installed offshore wind capacity of 18,499 MW.