The Anonymous Widower

3 GW Dogger Bank South Offshore Wind Farms Reach New Development Stage

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

The UK Planning Inspectorate has accepted into the examination phase the Development Consent Order (DCO) application for the Dogger Bank South (DBS) Offshore Wind Farms developed by RWE and Masdar.

The first two paragraphs give a brief description of the wind Farm.

The DBS East and DBS West offshore wind farms, which could provide electricity for up to three million typical UK homes, are located in shallow waters on the Dogger Bank over 100 kilometres off the northeast coast of England. The acceptance of the DCO application moves the projects into the pre-examination phase, which will become subject to a public examination later in 2024.

Together, the projects will have up to 200 turbines with a combined estimated capacity of 3 GW. Investment by RWE and Masdar during development and construction is predicted to deliver an economic contribution (Gross Value Added) to the UK of almost GBP 1 billion, including GBP 400 million in the Humber region.

There is a detailed map in the article on offshoreWIND.biz.

The Next Steps

These are given in the article.

The next steps for the projects, following a successful Development Consent Order, would be to secure Contracts for Difference (CfD), followed by financing and construction, the developers said.

It certainly looks like the 3 GW Dogger South Bank Wind Farm is on its way.

These are my thoughts about the project.

The Turbines To Be Used

The article says this about the turbines.

Together, the projects will have up to 200 turbines with a combined estimated capacity of 3 GW.

This means that the turbines will be 15 MW.

In RWE Orders 15 MW Nordseecluster Offshore Wind Turbines At Vestas, I said this.

Does this mean that the Vestas V236-15.0 MW offshore wind turbine, is now RWE’s standard offshore turbine?

This would surely have manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance advantages.

There would surely be advantages for all parties to use a standard turbine.

It’s A Long Way Between Yorkshire And The Dogger Bank

The article says it’s a hundred kilometres between the wind farm and the coast of Yorkshire.

Welcome To The Age Of Hydrogen

This is the title of this page of the RWE web site.

The page starts with this paragraph.

RWE is actively involved in the development of innovative hydrogen projects. The H2 molecule is considered to be an important future building block of a successful energy transition. RWE is a partner in over 30 H2 projects and is working on solutions for decarbonising the industry with associations and corporations like Shell, BASF and OGE. Hydrogen projects are comprehensively supported in the separate Hydrogen department of the subsidiary RWE Generation.

AquaVentus

I also suggest, that you read this page on the RWE web site called AquaVentus.

The page starts with this RWE graphic.

It appears that 10.3 GW of hydrogen will be created by wind farms and piped to North-West Germany.

These two paragraphs outline the AquaVentus initiative .

Hydrogen is considered the great hope of decarbonisation in all sectors that cannot be electrified, e.g. industrial manufacturing, aviation and shipping. Massive investments in the expansion of renewable energy are needed to enable carbon-neutral hydrogen production. After all, wind, solar and hydroelectric power form the basis of climate-friendly hydrogen.

In its quest for climate-friendly hydrogen production, the AquaVentus initiative has set its sights on one renewable energy generation technology: offshore wind. The initiative aims to use electricity from offshore wind farms to operate electrolysers also installed at sea on an industrial scale. Plans envisage setting up electrolysis units in the North Sea with a total capacity of 10 gigawatts, enough to produce 1 million metric tons of green hydrogen.

The page also gives these numbers.

• Total Capacity – 10 GW
• Tonnes Of Green Hydrogen – 1 million
• Members – 100 +

The web site says this about commissioning.

Commissioning is currently scheduled for early/mid 2030s.

The Germans can’t be accused of lacking ambition.

AquaVentus And The UK

This video shows the structure of AquaVentus.

I clipped this map from the video.

Note.

1. There is a link to Denmark.
2. There appears to be a undeveloped link to Norway.
3. There appears to be a  link to Peterhead in Scotland.
4. There appears to be a link to just North of the Humber in England.
5. Just North of the Humber are the two massive gas storage sites of Aldbrough owned by SSE and Brough owned by Centrica.
6. There appear to be small ships sailing up and down the East Coast of the UK. Are these small coastal tankers distributing the hydrogen to where it is needed?

In the last century, the oil industry, built a substantial oil and gas network in the North Sea. It appears now the Germans are leading the building of a substantial hydrogen network.

AquaVentus And Aldbrough And Rough Gas Storage

Consider.

• In The Massive Hydrogen Project, That Appears To Be Under The Radar, I describe the Aldbrough Gas Storage.
• In Wood To Optimise Hydrogen Storage For Centrica’s Rough Field, I describe Centrica’s plans to turn Rough Gas Storage into the world’s largest hydrogen store.
• There is a small amount of hydrogen storage at Wilhelmshaven.

It looks like the East Riding Hydrogen Bank, will be playing a large part in ensuring the continuity and reliability of AquaVentus.

Dogger Bank South And AquaVentus

This Google Map shows the North Sea South of Sunderland and the Danish/German border.

Note.

1. Sunderland is in the top-left hand corner of the map.
2. A white line in the top-right corner of the map is the Danish/German border.
3. Hamburg and Bremen are in the bottom-right hand corner of the map.

If you lay the AquaVentus map over this map, I believe that Dogger Bank South wind farm could be one of the three 2 GW wind farms on the South-Western side of the AquaVentus main pipeline.

• Two GW would be converted to hydrogen and fed into the AquaVentus main pipeline.
• One GW of electricity would be sent to the UK.

But this is only one of many possibilities.

Hopefully, everything will be a bit clearer, when RWE publish more details.

Conclusion

I believe, that some or all of the Dogger Bank South electricity, will be converted to hydrogen and fed into the AquaVentus main pipeline.

I also believe, that the hydrogen stores in the East Riding of Yorkshire, will form an important part of AquaVentus.

July 12, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Hydrogen | Aldbrough Gas Storage, AquaVentus, Centrica, Denmark, Dogger Bank South Wind Farm, Hydrogen Storage, Masdar, Norway, Offshore Wind Power, Peterhead, RWE, SSE, Wind Power