Onshore construction

Construction and installation on land

Onshore construction began in January 2020 when our contractors, Jones Bros, broke ground near the village of Ulrome in the East Ridings of Yorkshire.

This marked the start of the installation of the c.30km of onshore cable from Ulrome to the Creyke Beck substation to service the Dogger Bank A and B projects.

In September 2022, the safe installation of around 73 miles (c. 117.5km) of underground cable was completed – more on this milestone here.

Onshore works for Dogger Bank C are also underway in close cooperation with the team from the Sofia offshore wind farm which is being developed by RWE.  The cooperative approach is due to the close proximity of the projects and will reduce the impact on local residents along the cable route between Redcar and Marske-by-the-Sea on Teesside.

 

Part of the cable route from landfall at Ulrome.

Engineers check the progress of the cable installation.

Onshore cable installation

The electricity generated by the Dogger Bank A and B wind turbines will come ashore via subsea export cables to the north of Ulrome and will then travel via around 19km of underground cables to two converter stations near Beverley.  The Dogger Bank C cables will come ashore near Marske-by-the-Sea on Teesside and travel by around 7km of underground cables to a converter station near Lazenby.

The main works required include:

  • Installation of access points along the cable routes
  • Marking out the cable route and installing fencing to provide a safe working environment
  • Creation of construction compounds along the route (temporary bases for workers and equipment)
  • Excavation of cable trenches, installation of ducting, laying of marking tape and boards and reinstatement
  • Installation of the export cables in the pre-installed ducting from landfall to the converter stations and from the converter stations to the main grid substations

Where required, our contractors utilise horizontal directional drilling techniques to bypass obstacles including road, rail and river with the minimum of disruption.

The cable installation vessel just offshore installing the export cables.

Landfall

Our contractors install ducting (pipes) from onshore out to a point around 500m offshore, utilising horizontal directional drilling equipment to install the ducting, passing under cliffs and beaches thereby causing as little disruption as possible.

The offshore export cables are pulled ashore from specialist cable laying vessels through the ducting and connected to the onshore cables for the remainder of the route to the converter substations.

At their highest point above sea level, Dogger Bank Wind Farm's turbines are more than two and a half times as tall as Big Ben

Artists impression of a Dogger Bank Convertor Station.

Converter stations

Our contractors are building three converter stations with two located in the East Riding of Yorkshire and one located in Teesside.  The converter stations will take the electricity generated by the wind turbines and convert it from HVDC to HVAC current before the power passes through the adjacent main substations and on to the National Grid for distribution to where it is needed in homes and businesses.

The Operations and Maintenance Base is now complete.

Operations and maintenance base

In May 2020, we announced that we would become the first resident of the Tyne Clean Energy Park at the Port of Tyne by locating our long term operational base there.

The base, completed in early 2023, contains the infrastructure required to operate Dogger Bank, including office, training and welfare space for around 200 people who will be based there or offshore operating and maintaining the 277 wind turbines.

The net-zero base will be operated in line with the UK Green Building Councils Net Zero Carbon Framework and has utilised low carbon materials in its construction and has solar PV panels and EV charging points installed to further reduce its impact.

Equinor led on the construction of the multi-million £ base which generated over 200 direct jobs in the region as well as opportunities for companies at all levels of the supply chain.

To find out about offshore construction works click here.

OFFSHORE