Vital onshore work creates link to world's biggest offshore wind farm

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Work to install almost 73 miles of cables destined to route power from the world's largest offshore wind farm under the East Yorkshire countryside has been completed.

The huge civil engineering project has involved laying 3,500 tonnes of high-voltage direct current cables. Construction work started on the route near the coastal village of Ulrome just over two years ago and has now reached a new converter complex being built near Beverley.

A final four-mile leg taking high-voltage alternating current to the Creyke Beck electricity sub-station near Cottingham is now underway. Land reinstatement work along the original route is also now being carried out.

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Oliver Flattery, onshore project manager for the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, said: "The whole team has worked incredibly hard and diligently since the start of 2020 to safely and efficiently prepare the 30km route, through a combination of trenching and drilling methods, before installing protective ducts and then feeding the underground cables through these ducts.

"This has been a huge undertaking, and one we are all proud to have been part of. We would like to thank local residents and businesses in East Riding of Yorkshire for their patience and understanding over the last two years while this work has been taking place."

Main contractor Jones Bros Civil Engineering has been supported by Powersystems UK and cable installation specialists F.B. Taylor during the project. The electricity carried by the cables will be converted from DC to AC current at the two stations currently under construction for transmission to homes and businesses across the UK via the National Grid.

James Lockwood, project manager for Jones Bros said: "Hitting this key milestone on the world’s largest offshore wind farm has been made possible thanks to the efforts of every individual on site. I know it brings everyone from senior managers to trainees and apprentices a great sense of pride to be associated with this project and we are excited to see how the rest of the scheme develops."

Drilling along the route has been carried out by Essex-based firm Joseph Gallager. It has involved a series of horizontal directional drills to create a path for cables to be laid.

Tony Matheson, a director at the firm, said: "This has been a fantastic project to work on over the past two years. Our team have been instrumental throughout, operating four horizontal directional drilling rigs simultaneously during peak times, installing an impressive 27km of duct in 140 drills – ranging from 50m to 620m and then returning to grout the cables after the install.

"It has been a true collaborative effort working with Jones Bros throughout the project. The team’s work ethic shone through helping to deliver the project to programme and with safety at the forefront, something we are very proud to have been part of.”

Offshore construction on the first two phases of the Dogger Bank project began in April with the start of undersea installation work off the East Yorkshire coast. In addition, the first foundations for the wind turbines themselves were laid in July.

Next year the first of 277 turbines destined to form the wind farm will be installed in the first of three phases of the project with final completion scheduled for 2026. Each phase is located more than 130km from the coast and the wind farm is expected to operate for around 35 years.

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