Work starts laying offshore electricity cable connecting to world’s largest wind farm off Yorkshire

Cable laying work for Dogger Bank off Yorkshire's coast Credit: SSE Renewables

The first nearshore cable has been installed which will link the first phase of the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm to a landing point at Ulrome in East Yorkshire.

The work has been led by NKT, with UK companies Aberdeenshire-based ACE Winches and LMR Drilling UK Ltd of Birkenhead supporting the project.

Dogger Bank will be the first high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) connected wind farm in the UK, which should minimise losses of energy.

Project Director Steve Wilson said: “This is an exciting time for everyone involved in this project as we celebrate installing the first nearshore HVDC export cable safely and on-time.

"With the first foundations due to be installed later this year and the first turbines scheduled for installation in 2023, we’re now well on our way to achieving first power from this unrivalled global renewable energy asset.”

Dogger Bank Wind Farm - a joint venture between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%) and Eni Plenitude (20%) is being built in three phases known as A, B and C.

NKT will supply and install the onshore and offshore HVDC cable for all three phases of the project using its cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria to install the 320kV DC subsea cable system.

The 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which has an expected lifetime of around 35 years, will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when completed in 2026.