UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed the “extraordinary” 3600MW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm as central to the UK’s power future at a visit to the north-east of England today.
Johnson was touring the testing facility for the wind farm’s 260-metre-high turbines at Blyth.
He said: “It’s fantastic to be at this wind turbine testing facility here in Blyth and be talking to both SSE and Equinor who are co-investors in the extraordinary Dogger Bank wind farm, already the biggest in the world.
“And we in the UK government want to help make it even bigger powering the homes in our country with clean power for generations to come.”
Johnson said Dogger Bank would bring high quality jobs and investment and drive economic recovery.
SSE is building the first two 1.2GW phases of the project with partners Equinor and Eni and is leading on the development and construction of the 190-turbine array.
SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said: “Dogger Bank epitomises the best of the UK; bold ambition, engineering brilliance and cutting-edge technology being put to work to deliver a cleaner, greener future.
“This project has been 10 years in the making and the Prime Minister has seen for himself the staggering scale of the components which will be erected over 120km off the Yorkshire coast.
“Dogger Bank is a beacon in the economic recovery from coronavirus; we’re building the biggest offshore wind farm in the biggest offshore wind market in the world. Delivering jobs, delivering investment and delivering on SSE and the UK’s net-zero ambitions.”
SSE said Dogger Bank has created 320 new skilled jobs in the north east with more to come as construction ramps up across 2021.
UK businesses are already benefiting from contract wins including Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool, Port of Tyne and Welsh based Jones Bros who will install the onshore cable infrastructure, it said.