SSE and Equinor have scrapped plans to produce green hydrogen in the fourth phase of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm project in the UK, focusing entirely on power generation from the offshore wind farm. The decision follows the confirmation of an onshore grid connection location in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The up to 2 GW phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm will connect to Birkhill Wood, a proposed new 400 kV substation located in the East Riding of Yorkshire which will be built as part of National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade.
According to the project’s developers, the team is undertaking a site selection process to identify potential cable corridors and where other onshore infrastructure associated with the grid connection at Birkhill Wood may be sited.
A consultation will be held later this year to introduce the connection proposals to the local community, said the developers.
With the confirmation of an onshore grid connection location, the option to direct the wind energy produced by Dogger Bank D towards hydrogen production, as publicly consulted in autumn 2023, has been retired from the project, according to the partners.
At the end of last year, Equinor and SSE awarded contracts to Genesis, H2GO Power, and Fichtner, to carry out feasibility and optimization studies connected to the potential large-scale green hydrogen development on the project.
In addition to the confirmation of an onshore grid connection location, the developers said that the project is also exploring the future possibility of the development of Dogger Bank D to be coordinated with an Offshore Hybrid Asset between the UK and another European electricity market to form a multi-purpose interconnector.
The 2 GW offshore wind farm is currently planned to comprise 128 wind turbines and up to six offshore platforms.
The site where Dogger Bank D would be built is located some 210 kilometers off the northeast coast of England, in the eastern zone of the Dogger Bank C lease area.
If constructed, the fourth phase would bring the total installed capacity of the UK project – already the world’s largest offshore wind farm under construction – to over 5.5 GW.