Orsted and Shell have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for a total of 2400MW of capacity from the Dogger Bank A and B offshore wind farms off the coast of north-east England.
SSE Renewables and Equinor, the joint venture partners co-developing the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea, concluded the separate 15-year offtake PPAs, under which Orsted will take a 40% share and Shell Energy Europe a 20% share.
Sponsor offtakers Danske Commodities will take a 20% share on behalf of Equinor and SSE Energy Supply will take the remaining 20% share on behalf of SSE Renewables.
The agreements are subject to financial close on Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, which is expected shortly, Equinor and SSE Renewables said.
The deals to buy the power generated by the first two phases of the wind farm follow the conclusion of a competitive bidding process.
Together they represent the largest set of PPAs completed to date in a tender process for a renewable energy project in the UK energy market.
Orsted Markets & Bioenergy chief executive Morten Buchgreitz said: “We’re very pleased with the signing of this agreement which underlines our position as a leading energy trading company in the UK.
“Handling a 15-year trading agreement with the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is indeed in line with our vision to create a world that runs entirely on green energy. We’re very much looking forward to our cooperation.”
The commercial power agreements provide a route to sell the green energy generated by both wind farms into the GB electricity market when they each enter operation.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm is located over 130km off England’s north-east coast and will be completed in 2026.
Orsted will have trading and balancing responsibility for 960MW while Shell Energy Europe, SSE Energy Supply and Danske Commodities will have responsibility for 480MW each of installed generation capacity across Dogger Bank A and B.
SSE Renewables Dogger Bank Wind Farm project director Steve Wilson said: “Today’s announcement that we have concluded offtake Power Purchase Agreements for Dogger Bank A and B marks one of our final milestones ahead of reaching financial close soon for what will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.
“These agreements with leading energy trading companies will ensure the renewable energy generated by the first two phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm can be sold into the GB electricity market, delivering on our promise to power millions of British households with green energy.”
Due to its size and scale, Dogger Bank is being built in three consecutive 1.2GW phases, A, B and C.
Each project is expected to generate around six terawatt-hours of electricity annually.