Supply chain crunch likely to delay massive Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm
Supply chain crunch likely to delay massive Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm | Windpower Monthly
UK renewables firm SSE Renewables said in a trading statement that supply chain pressures could see the forecasted start of commercial operations at the 2400MW Dogger Bank A & B wind farm delayed to next year.
The Q3 trading statement said turbine installation at Dogger Bank A had been impacted by “challenging weather conditions”, while “vessel availability and supply chain delays” were also impeding its progress.
Dogger Bank A is currently being built in the North Sea, and forms part of the three-phase Dogger Bank wind cluster as part of Dogger Bank A and B and 1200MW Dogger Bank C.
The Dogger Bank A and B cluster is owned 40% by SSE Renewables, 40% by Norwegian oil company Equinor and the remaining 20% by Italian oil firm Eni.
Combined with Dogger Bank C, the megaproject will have a combined capacity of 3.6GW, making it the world’s largest wind farm by capacity on completion, and is expected to occupy an area almost as large as Greater London and nearly twice the size of New York City.
Dogger Bank A and B was previously expected to come online later this year, but SSE said the latest delays could see full operations pushed back to 2025.
Unavailability of the specialist installation vessels needed to install the project’s 190 Haliade-X 13MW turbines from US manufacturer GE “in the coming weeks” was compounding existing supply chain and weather delays, it said.
Dogger Bank delivered first power in October last year.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”