Dogger Bank Wind Farm has announced 320 jobs to be created in the UK’s North East so far, with the recruitment set to start in early 2021.
In May , Dogger Bank Wind Farm said Equinor, which will operate the 3.6 GW wind farm for its expected life of more than 25 years, will construct an operations and maintenance (O&M) base in the Port of Tyne – where a total of 200 long term jobs will be created.
Now, together with the news on the wind turbine supply agreement with GE Renewable Energy for Dogger Bank A & B phases, the developer informed 120 of the total of 200 jobs at the Port of Tyne will be related to the wind turbine operation and maintenance. GE’s Service team will be co-located with the Dogger Bank Operational and Maintenance team at the Port of Tyne.
Furthermore, the wind turbine installation work, which will be carried out from the Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool, will create further 120 job opportunities through pre-assembly, installation and commissioning activities.
The wind turbine installation is expected to start at the Dogger Bank A site in 2023, with the recruitment for the associated job positions scheduled to kick off early next year.
Job roles will be advertised closer to the time by GE and by Dogger Bank via the Dogger Bank website and social media channels, the developer said.
“We are delighted that 120 skilled jobs will be based here at the Port, in this exciting and growing industry. The offshore wind sector will increase four-fold by 2030 through the Sector Deal, and with the increasingly demanding targets for low carbon power generation, there is an unparalleled level of market visibility” , said Peter Stephenson , ABLE UK’s Executive Chairman. “Combine this with the sectors’ extraordinary efforts in terms of developing new products and significantly reducing costs, this industry is set to become a dominant factor in a post Covid 19 UK economy”.
The jobs required to operate an offshore wind farm include maintenance technician roles, that will predominately be based offshore, as well as office-based teams to support the operations from land. The main recruitment activity for O&M will begin in early 2022 and ramp up as the project nears operation, with the first phase due to begin producing electricity in 2023.
The Dogger Bank Wind Farm is estimated to trigger a total capital investment of approximately GBP 9 billion between 2020 and 2026, and will also provide opportunities for companies at all levels of the supply chain .
The 3.6 GW project is being delivered in three 1.2 GW phases and will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm once complete in 2026.
The final investment decision on Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B will be made in late 2020, with the FID for Dogger Bank C scheduled for 2021.