Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Opens

The Dudgeon offshore wind farm in Great Yarmouth, U.K., was officially opened by operator Statoil and partners Masdar and Statkraft on Wednesday.

Dudgeon is located 40 kilometers off the coast of Norfolk in England, and all 67 turbines at the 402MW farm are now delivering electricity to the U.K. grid, providing renewable energy to around 410,000 homes.

Since the investment decision was made in 2014, construction costs have been reduced by more than 15 percent, from GBP1.5 billion ($2 billion) to approximately GBP1.25 billion ($1.7 billion). As operator of both the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon offshore wind farms, located in the same area, Statoil’s priority is to improve efficiency further and increase collaboration between projects.

Statoil’s CEO Eldar Sætre said the company plans to grow its renewable energy portfolio significantly by 2030 with an investment plan of around NOK 100 billion ($12 billion). Statoil already has a sizeable renewables portfolio. Its current offshore wind portfolio has the capacity to provide more than one million homes with renewable energy. This includes the Sheringham Shoal wind farm, the Arkona offshore wind farm in Germany and Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating offshore wind farm, which came into production in October. 

Towards 2030 it is estimated that the installed capacity of offshore wind in Europe is expected to reach 70GW from 12GW in 2016. Improved technology, increased deployment and lower costs are the key drivers turning offshore wind into an attractive power source.