Energy

The Dogger Bank Zone is located in the North Sea 125km to 290km off the east coast of Yorkshire. It covers 8,660km2 - roughly the same size as the county of North Yorkshire. These ambitious plans are being developed by Forewind, a consortium that comprises Scottish and Southern Energy, Statoil, RWE npower renewables and Statkraft.  

Forewind has agreed with The Crown Estate a target installed capacity of 9GW, though the zone has the potential for approximately 13GW, which equates to around ten per cent of total UK electricity requirements. If developed it is likely to be the world’s largest offshore wind project.

Royal Haskoning – an independent firm of environmental consultants and civil engineers - supported Forewind in securing the development rights to the Dogger Bank zone. Following a subsequent successful tender process, Royal Haskoning was appointed to co-ordinate and progress the EIAs for both the offshore and onshore elements of the first project of the development phase. Dogger Bank will be developed in four tranches of approximately 3GW, which will be sub-divided into three projects per tranche.

Forewind Head of Development, Gareth Lewis, said: “The environmental investigations, analysis and stakeholder engagement that forms the EIA will be critical to gaining the consents required to build wind farms within the Dogger Bank zone. Royal Haskoning brings significant experience and expertise in the renewable energy sector for both the offshore and supporting onshore works and we are very pleased to have them assisting us in delivering this huge green energy project.”

Robert Staniland, Royal Haskoning’s Director of Offshore Energy, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed to work with Forewind on this nationally significant project. The Dogger Bank Zone represents a particularly exciting challenge due to its sheer scale, wide range of stakeholders and the fact that much of it has not been previously explored in the detail necessary for EIA. As co-ordinators for both the offshore and onshore elements of the first project’s EIA(s), our project team will be able to provide a comprehensive and expert assessment which we believe will benefit the project greatly.”

The Dogger Bank Zone is the largest of nine available under Round 3. The Crown Estate nominated much larger zones than were made available under previous Rounds, and the successful developers have the opportunity to select the most viable sites within those zones for wind farm development.