Equinor and SSE have made a request to the UK Planning Inspectorate to boost capacity above 1200MW and use bigger than planned turbines at the Dogger Bank Teesside A offshore wind farm off the east coast of England.
In the application for non-material changes to the consented project, the developers said they wish to increase the permitted rotor diameter of the turbines to 280 metres from 215 metres previously.
They also request removal of the project’s stated gross output capacity of up to 1.2GW, with no new figure specified other than “more than 100MW” to ensure that Teesside A “remains a nationally significant infrastructure project for the purposes of the Planning Act 2008”.
Equinor and SSE said no other changes are being sought and the increased capacity would be achieved through using more efficient turbines.
The developers said they are not asking to install more than the permitted number of consented turbines, which would remain up to 200.
“There are clear benefits in not imposing a capacity cap, because Teesside A can then take advantage of technological progress in turbine design which would allow for increased electrical output in order to maximise the delivery of renewable energy within the currently consented parameters,” the request document said.
It added: “There are no planning justifications for limiting the capacity of Teesside A, as is demonstrated by the fact that capacity is not a constraint or parameter in itself and is only identified in the description of the authorised development.”
Equinor and SSE also included a new environmental report, including an ornithological technical report, with the request.
The deadline for the receipt of representations to the Planning Inspectorate regarding the non-material changes request is 10 January.
Equinor and SSE have selected GE’s 12MW Haliade-X as the preferred turbine model for Teesside A, as well as for the 1.2GW each Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A and B developments.