Statoil, Statkraft allowed to cut UK offshore wind plan to 400 MW

Dec 27, 2013 - Norwegian energy groups Statoil ASA (OSL:STL) and Statkraft AS have secured the UK government’s nod to certain changes to the Dudgeon offshore wind scheme, including a cut of its capacity to 400 MW.

According to a statement posted Monday on the project’s website, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has approved the project partners’ application to vary the offshore planning consent for the wind project.

The Dudgeon project is located off the coast of Norfolk in eastern England. It lies to the northeast of the 317-MW Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm, a 50/50 joint venture of Statoil and Statkraft. The two firm came to the conclusion that they will have to reduce the planned Dudgeon capacity in order to ensure more space between the turbines so as to avoid wind turbine wake effects. Furthermore, there are concerns regarding the stability of turbine foundations because of the existing areas of mobile sand waves across the site and the chalk structure of the subsea bed. Statoil and Statkraft’s response to that is the introduction of new foundation options such as the use of suction bucket jacket foundations that will only penetrate a few metres of the seabed and avoid the chalk layer, or the installation of larger monopole foundations to boost surface friction. The DECC’s approval for variation also extends the red line boundary of the project site to allow additional flexibility to locate the turbines away from the areas of mobile sand.

Statoil holds a 70% stake in the project and is in charge of the construction and operations phases, while the other 30% are in the hands of Statkraft. Dudgeon Offshore Wind chairman Halfdan Brustad said that it was possible to achieve 400 MW of capacity with only 50 to 80 turbines.

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