Two UK Offshore Wind Farms to Double Capacity by Equinor

Equinor, a major Norwegian energy company, has been granted permission to expand the capacity of two operational offshore wind farms, Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore, in the United Kingdom.

The approval for these wind farm extensions was given by Claire Coutinho, the UK Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. With this approval, the capacity of the wind farms will be doubled, enabling them to supply electricity to nearly 1.5 million UK households, up from the current 710,000.

The Sheringham Shoal wind farm, with its 88 turbines, currently produces about 1.1 terawatt-hours of renewable energy each year and has a capacity of 317 megawatts. The Dudgeon wind farm, on the other hand, has 67 turbines each capable of 6 megawatts, totaling 402 megawatts.

This marks the first instance in the UK where two offshore wind projects, owned by different entities, have received joint approval for expansion. This joint application approach allows for the potential integration of their development plans.

The proposal for the expansions includes the possibility of using an integrated transmission system or maintaining separate grid connections for each wind farm.

The construction phase of these projects is expected to create over 1,800 full-time jobs annually in the UK, particularly in East Anglia. This will contribute more than £370 million (approximately $460 million) in direct gross value to the local and national economy.

Following this approval, Equinor will conduct a detailed review of the granted consent to decide the feasibility of moving forward with these projects towards a final investment decision.