DECC consent granted for Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm

The original planning consent was granted in 2012.

These variations were requested following a review of the design of the offshore wind farm site undertaken after the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm project was acquired by Statoil and Statkraft.

This review raised concerns relating to the stability of the wind turbine foundations due to areas of mobile sand waves across the site and the chalk structure of the subsea bed; it also indicated that in order to avoid the wake effects of placing the turbines too closely together, the capacity of the wind farm should be reduced from 560MW to around 400MW.

The approval of the application for variation extends the red line boundary of the offshore wind farm site to provide additional flexibility to locate the turbines away from the high risk areas of mobile sand.

It also allows for the introduction of new foundation options to offset the risk of instability due to the chalk.

Dudgeon Offshore Wind chairman Mr Halfdan Brustad said: