client | Forewind
“Having worked so thoroughly on
World’s largest wind farm
The Dogger Bank wind farm zone, located in the
North Sea off the coast of East Yorkshire, is potentially
the world’s largest offshore wind project. If fully
developed, the 8,660km2 area could contain more
than 2,000 wind turbine generators and provide an
immense 13GW of electricity – enough to supply ten
per cent of the UK’s electricity requirements.
Given the size of the development, the zone will be
developed in a series of ‘Tranches’, each containing a
number of projects with an overall capacity of around
3GW in each Tranche.
The plans for the Dogger Bank zone are being developed
by Forewind, a four-company consortium comprising
SSE, RWE npower renewables, and Norwegian energy
companies Statoil and Statkraft. As well as offshore
turbines, substations and underwater cables, the zone
will also require considerable onshore infrastructure,
including converter stations, and hundreds of kilometres
of underground cable to export the electricity to the
National Grid.
Originally commissioned by SSE in 2008, prior to the formal
establishment of Forewind, Royal HaskoningDHV’s initial
role was to assist in gaining rights from The Crown Estate
to develop the zone under Round 3 of the UK’s offshore
wind licensing arrangements.
our offshore Tranche A projects, the
team from Royal HaskoningDHV is
now able to build on the learning
and knowledge gleaned so far
for our next phase of Tranche B
projects and put into practice its
expertise to assist Forewind in its
delivery objectives for the Dogger
Bank Zone.”
Gareth Lewis,
Head of Offshore Development
In June 2010, Royal HaskoningDHV was awarded the
roles of ‘Offshore Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) Coordinator’ for Tranche A and ‘Onshore EIA Co-
ordinator’ for the first project application, via a competitive
tender. In October 2011, a framework was agreed for
Royal HaskoningDHV to provide complete EIA services up
to, and including, the final project in Tranche B, covering
projects up to 6GW of capacity.
Robert Staniland, Technical Director of Offshore Wind,
Royal HaskoningDHV, said: “We are naturally incredibly
proud for the team to be working on such a prestigious
project”.
“Royal HaskoningDHV has an enviable and proven track
record in the offshore wind market, having seen projects
through the consenting process, the construction phase
and into operational monitoring. Our technical expertise in
and experience of both the offshore and onshore aspects of
development allows us to forge the kind of strong client-
consultant relationships that are evidenced by this contract
with Forewind”.
Complex and wide-ranging, the EIA and pre-application
process involves initial site selection for all components
of onshore and offshore infrastructure, route-finding for
export cables, planning and executing survey programmes,
undertaking data analysis and interpretation and extensive
World’s largest wind farm
stakeholder consultation. The EIA for the first project of
the Dogger Bank zone is currently in progress and due to
be submitted to the Infrastructure Planning Commission
(IPC) in December 2013.
Onshore
The first project will require construction of a new
onshore converter station to adapt the DC electricity
produced into the AC electricity required for the National
Grid. Around 34km of underground cable will be laid from
the coast to an existing substation at Creyke Beck,
East Yorkshire.
Every aspect of each project will be assessed during the
EIA process to ensure the development is given approval
to proceed. Rufus Howard, Director of the Renewable
Energy Team at Royal HaskoningDHV, explains: “The
development of the onshore infrastructure for the
Dogger Bank is an exciting challenge for the team. Our
consultants are involved in a large range of assessments
including: cable route selection; the comparison of
alternative sites; traffic and transport; land quality; flood
risk; noise; and planning policy.
“There are many challenges to successful siting and
construction of the onshore infrastructure. Landowners,
tenants and communities need to be consulted and their
concerns addressed. Statutory consultees, such as the
Environment Agency and Natural England, need to be
convinced of environmental mitigations proposed, to
correctly determine the acceptability of the project. The
technical surveys and assessments required for a project
of this size are complex to coordinate, manage
and deliver.
“Our dedicated Energy and Industry Team specialises
in this type of development. We have excellent project
experience from our work on the Sheringham Shoal
and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Projects in the design,
assessment and consenting of large scale linear
cable routes and substations. We consider this type
of development as our forte and have proved that
we can deliver to the expectations of our clients and
stakeholders, on time and to budget.”
Offshore
Robert Staniland comments: “The Dogger Bank zone
provides an excellent opportunity for offshore wind farm
development. It is relatively shallow, covers a large area
and, most importantly, it is windy! The Dogger Bank itself
is also of importance for a number of reasons including
its archaeological significance, importance for wildlife
and in supporting human activity, such as commercial
fisheries. The EIA process is not just about assessing
isolated impacts, for example, on birds, fish and shipping;
it must also understand and address the complex web
of dependencies between different features of the
environment – an impact on one thing can have knock-on
effects on several others.

“The Dogger Bank site is 125km to 290km out to sea

and this distance means it is directly adjacent to the
territories of other countries, requiring transboundary
consultation with nations such as the Netherlands to
complete the EIA. Coordinating different companies
and environmental technicians to undertake complex
analysis on such a large scale is a challenge we relish.

“The UK government has committed to producing 20

per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Projects such as Dogger Bank are essential to achieving
this target, so the team has a tight timescale. As
Royal HaskoningDHV is undertaking the EIA process for
both the offshore and onshore works, the process will be
streamlined. The EIAs for each project will be submitted
on a rolling programme up to 2014-15.”
World’s largest wind farm
As well as being the world’s largest offshore wind farm
development, if the Dogger Bank zone reaches its full
potential, it will also be one of the largest electricity
generating sources of any kind in the world. Rufus
Howard comments: “The development of Dogger Bank
will be a huge step forward to delivering a future of clean

00137-cs-mac-mo-rhdhv-0713-gb-v01-cwa
sustainable energy for the UK.

“The sheer scale of the Dogger Bank offshore wind

farm zone will cement the UK’s reputation as a world
leader in the field of renewable energy and it is
Royal HaskoningDHV’s pleasure to be part of something
that will have such an impact on energy supply in the
future.”

United Kingdom: Alistair Davison

T: +44 131 561 2298
E: alistair.davison@rhdhv.com

The Netherlands: Joris Truijens

T: +31 88 348 2653
E: joris.truijens@rhdhv.com

royalhaskoningdhv.com