Talking all things offshore wind

2022 is the year of the candidate-driven market. It's no secret renewable/offshore wind workers are in high demand, and they know it! With the drive in Offshore Wind and developments popping up all over the UK and EU and even further afield in Southeast Asia, there is a lot to choose from. The market is highly competitive with companies battling to attract and recruit the best candidates out there. 

The drive in building offshore wind and other renewable energy is resulting in a major skills gap, further exacerbated due to COVID-19 restricting training and certification of workers. 

Major Offshore Wind Developments in 2022

Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm:

The Seagreen 1 project secured a 15-year CfD contract in 2019, for 454MW. The project reached a final investment decision on 3 June 2020 and will build out to 1,075MW capacity (114 turbines).

Seagreen will provide enough green energy to power more than 1.6 million homes, equivalent to two-thirds of all Scottish homes.

Scotland's largest fixed offshore wind farm and the world's deepest, Seagreen, currently under construction off the Angus coast, has passed another significant milestone with the successful installation of the 4,800 tonnes offshore platform topside.

Dogger Bank:

SSE Renewables is currently building the world's largest offshore wind farm, located more than 130km off the North East coast of England. The 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three 1.2GW phases with each phase having up to 200 turbines. When fully complete in 2026, it will be capable of powering six million UK homes, helping drive the transition to Net Zero carbon emissions. 

The team building the farm has officially marked the start of its offshore construction work with the installation of the first length of HVDC export cable off the Yorkshire coast.

Offshore construction is planned to commence in 2023 with the completion of the overall scheme set in 2026. Dogger Bank C will deploy the GE Haliade 14 MW turbines with the Installation set to commence in 2025 and the overall Dogger Bank C project to be complete in 2026.

Sofia:

Contracts are in place with all project's Tier 1 suppliers - providing the main component packages including turbines, foundations, and electrical infrastructure. 

Construction of Sofia officially began in June 2021, with enabling works at the site of the project's onshore converter station in Redcar, Teeside. GE's Grid Solutions, its main contractor Kier Infrastructure and J. Murphy and Sons, have now moved on to the converter station site to carry out the export cable civil engineering works. 

To learn more about what is happening in the sector, to find out more about how our services could benefit you and your company, please get in touch with me at paul.mudd@trswfs.com