Exclusive: Sea 'cities' for wind farm workers

The consortium of energy firms behind the 1,800-turbine wind farm

planned at Dogger Bank, almost 100 miles off the north-east coast, has told the Yorkshire Post it expects hundreds of engineers and other service staff will eventually live offshore on specially constructed platforms or vessels located in and around the army of 400ft tall turbines.

The wind farm will be the largest in the world when construction is completed in around 10 years' time, covering an area the size of North Yorkshire and generating enough electricity to meet around 10 per cent of the UK's entire requirement.

On Saturday the Yorkshire Post launched its Powering Yorkshire's Future campaign, aiming to ensure this region benefits fully from the thousands of new jobs which will be created in building turbines for the Dogger Bank scheme, as well as a second 800-turbine wind farm planned off the coast at Hornsea.

Mark Legerton, head of engineering and supply chain at Forewind – the consortium behind the Dogger Bank project – said many more jobs will be created for decades to come in the servicing of the wind farms

He said: "To date our estimates have been based on the number of people needed to operate smaller, early wind farms, but even they run up to over 100 – and that's just a small element of this scale of project.

"If you increased that pro rata, you would end up with at least 1,000 people working on this at any one point in time in the operational field. Those numbers are in no way precise, but I think that's the order of magnitude."

As the Dogger Bank wind farm is located some distance from the coast and covers more than 8,000 square miles, Mr Legerton said it makes sense for many workers to live out amongst the turbines rather than travelling from the mainland to undertake checks and maintenance work each day.

"I think that's absolutely right," he said. "Given the distance we are out to sea – at least 125km (77 miles) from the nearest point of land, and even further from the nearest port – and given the wind farm zone itself almost goes that distance again, I don't think it's really feasible to have people going back and forth all the time.

"More likely it would be people working a shift pattern like on the oil rigs - perhaps two weeks on and then two weeks off. So there would then be accommodation platforms or accommodation vessels, and everything that goes with that. The people living there, like in any town, would need their own services and provisions.

"So there's an industry in providing for that level of offshore living as well – all the things they need, keeping people fed and watered and accommodated out there."

Having been given the go-ahead for the Dogger Bank scheme by the Government in January, Forewind – a consortium made up of power firms Scottish and Southern Energy, RWE Npower, Statoil and Statkraft – has now begun talks with a range of groups who use the North Sea to try to ensure the wind farm is compatible with local industries and the environment.

Key consultees will include wildlife groups, fishermen, local councils, the shipping industry, and oil, gas and communications firms with cables and pipes laid down on the North Sea bed.

The consortium is also required to undertake a range of strict environmental assessments and also analyse any possible archaeological issues – Dogger Bank is shallower than much of the North Sea and was once an island.

Mr Legerton said his group expects to lodge a formal planning application for the wind farm sometime in 2012, work being likely to begin in 2015.