Equinor and SSE eye green hydrogen production for 1.32 GW Dogger Bank D offshore wind farm

SSE Renewables and Equinor, the developers of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the UK, are exploring two options for Dogger Bank D, the fourth wind farm the partners are looking to build as part of the development. These include using Dogger Bank D for electricity that would feed into the UK grid and/or for green hydrogen production.

“Both the grid offtake and green hydrogen production options from Dogger Bank D would contribute to the UK’s net zero ambitions and emphasise Equinor’s ability to deliver a broad energy offering to the UK”, said Halfdan Brustad, VP Dogger Bank at Equinor.

The Dogger Bank D offshore wind farm is planned for the eastern zone of the Dogger Bank C lease area. Building the 1.32 GW project there would more than double the utilisation of existing acreage, Equinor and SSE said.

“Optimising the Dogger Bank C lease area with an additional phase, Dogger Bank D, is in line with Equinor’s strategy to further develop offshore wind projects in clusters such as the North Sea”, Halfdan Brustad said.

Should the fourth part move forward and be realised, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, already the world’s largest with 3.6 GW in the construction stage across three 1.2 GW sites, would reach almost 5 GW.

As reported last year by our sibling site offshoreWIND.biz, SSE and Equinor have already begun investigation work for the fourth Dogger Bank project, including geophysical surveys at the offshore wind farm’s array area.

The developers now said that they would release an initial scoping report in late March. The report will outline ongoing work to explore the technical feasibility of deploying the latest-available technology to bolster the UK’s renewable energy capacity, according to the Dogger Bank Wind Farm partners.

The grid connection option that the two companies are considering would see Dogger Bank D feeding electricity into the grid through a grid connecting point in Lincolnshire, where National Grid is installing new network infrastructure in response to the UK Government’s ambitions to generate 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030.

The second option Equinor and SSE are considering is using the electricity produced by Dogger Bank D to generate green hydrogen at a dedicated electrolysis facility in the Humber region. The facility, if developed, could become the UK’s largest green hydrogen project.

“We’re in the early stages of looking at the technical feasibility of the grid and also hydrogen options for a potential fourth phase of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and we’re looking forward to working with local, national and regional stakeholders over the coming months as we progress the project”, said Dogger Bank Wind Farm Project Director, Oliver Cass.

Both Equinor and SSE Thermal are members of the Zero Carbon Humber initiative, which plans to build hydrogen transmission and storage infrastructure in the Humber and link it to the East Coast Cluster CO₂ transmission and storage system. The green hydrogen option at Dogger Bank D could benefit from leveraging the low-carbon hydrogen value chain being advanced, including the hydrogen pipeline infrastructure and network of potential customers, according to the two partners.