UK’S biggest wind farm delayed by ship shortage

Dogger Bank A suffers lack of construction vessels to cope with huge turbines, says developer SSE

BRITAIN’S biggest offshore wind farm is facing a year-long delay because of a chronic shortage of construction ships.

The Dogger Bank site has suffered from significant disruption because of bad weather, storms and a lack of vessels able to build it, according to its developer, the power company SSE.

Two ship types are in short supply – foundation vessels that pour the 1,000ton foundations and the installation vessels that install the turbine towers.

SSE said: “Turbine installation on Dogger Bank A has been affected by challenging weather conditions with vessel availability and supply chain delays further impacting progress.

“Following notification of further vessel unavailability over the coming weeks there is an increasing possibility that full operations will not be achieved until 2025, although this is not expected to materially change project returns.

“The business is working closely with its supply chain partners to improve current turbine installation rates, with a further update on progress to be provided in May.”

SSE updated investors on its results for the final three months of 2023. The company said it was on course to deliver earnings per share of 150p to investors, less than hoped after output of renewable power was 15pc below expectations.

Dogger Bank is on sandbanks in the southern North Sea spanning UK, German, Danish and Dutch waters. Its shallow waters, between 60ft and 200ft, make it ideal for wind turbines.

SSE Renewables is developing the project in three phases, Dogger Bank A, B and C, between 81 miles and 118 miles from the English coast. Dogger Bank A was due for completion between late 2023 and early 2024 and Dogger Bank B roughly a year later, with the whole development due to be finished in 2026.

They will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm with a generation capacity of 3.6 gigawatts, enough to power 6m homes. They will be operated by SSE’S partner, Equinor, with an expected life of 35 years. Shortages of construction vessels is a global problem. Danish energy firm Orsted’s decision to cancel two wind farms off New Jersey last November was based in large part on big delays securing the ship it needed to build the project.

A recent report from Allianz Commercial said the global wind industry needed to spend $20bn (£16bn) on 200 new wind farm installation vessels. It said: “The increasing size of wind turbines is perhaps the most striking change the industry has seen.

“In the last 20 years they have almost quadrupled in height, from around 70m/230ft to around 260m/853ft – nearly three times taller than the Statue of Liberty. Rotor diameters of turbines have increased fivefold in 30 years. This increasing size of turbines has introduced corresponding exposures, with larger components, machinery and vessels required for their installation.

“A bigger fleet of specialist vessels will be required to support global deployment as most specialist vessels currently operate out of Europe. There is an urgent need to expand port facilities to accommodate the required increase in vessel numbers.”

SSE was formed from mergers between power companies across the UK. It now supplies power to communities across the northern Scottish islands and areas such as Shetland and Aberdeen, as well as customers in southern England in places including Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

The company also owns the high voltage transmission lines across the north of Scotland and Scottish islands, plus a fleet of around 10 gas-fired power stations in both Scotland and England.

The delay is the latest setback for the UK’S attempts to move to low carbon electricity. Those plans have been hit by delays in building Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which should have been up in the next three years but has been delayed until 2030.

There were plans for up to 10 more nuclear power stations to be on the way to construction by now but only one, Sizewell C, is heading that way.

Delays in expanding the National Grid to cope with output from wind farms means many turbines have to be switched off if the wind is too strong.