Developers scrap plan to produce green hydrogen at world's largest offshore wind farm
SSE and Equinor now say proposed fourth phase at UK's Dogger Bank would be used for grid electricity and possible interconnection with mainland Europe
Plans to power green hydrogen production from a fourth phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm have been scrapped after developers decided to focus solely on feeding electricity grids.
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The proposed Dogger Bank D project was unveiled a year ago by partners SSE Renewables and Equinor, with plans to add up to another 2GW of turbines to the 3.6GW already being built at the giant UK North Sea wind farm.
But the partners announced on Friday that Dogger Bank D has secured a grid connection location in Yorkshire, northeast England, and is also looking at possible hybrid interconnection with a European electricity market for the new capacity.
“With the confirmation of an onshore grid connection location in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the option to direct the wind energy produced by Dogger Bank D towards hydrogen production, as publicly consulted on in Autumn 2023, has been retired from the project,” said SSE and Equinor in a statement.
“With the location of a grid connection confirmed, Dogger Bank D will now focus its full attention on connecting to the electrical transmission system.”
The project had gone as far as announcing green hydrogen feasibility projects for Dogger Bank D as recently as December last year.
An updated proposal for the project will be published later this month, said the developers, who will now start consulting with local communities over the planned grid connection.
The first three Dogger Bank phases will, when fully built-out at a cost of around £11bn ($14bn), supply enough power for six million UK homes, making the project a new benchmark in the ambition of the global offshore wind sector.