Consent Granted for Substation to Connect Three New Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farms to UK Grid

National Grid has received planning consent for the new Birkhill Wood substation in East Yorkshire, which will connect 4.22 GW of offshore wind capacity from three planned North Sea wind farms to the UK grid.

Birkhill Wood will serve as the grid connection point for RWE and Masdar’s Dogger Bank South East and Dogger Bank South West offshore wind farms, and SSE Renewables and Equinor’s proposed Dogger Bank D project, the fourth phase of Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

Together, the three offshore wind farms are expected to provide enough electricity to power more than four million homes, according to National Grid.

The substation approval, granted by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, enables the development of the new substation approximately 700 metres north of the existing Creyke Beck substation.

Construction of a new two-kilometre access road from the A1079 has already started, with construction of the substation itself scheduled to begin in spring 2027.

The facility will use gas-insulated technology instead of a conventional open-air substation, according to National Grid, which also said the substation has been designed following environmental assessments and public consultation carried out in 2024, with landscaping measures included to help integrate the site into its rural surroundings and biodiversity measures set to deliver at least 10 per cent biodiversity net gain.

The company said the project will be accompanied by community funding, skills initiatives and local supply chain opportunities once construction begins.

Birkhill Wood will also serve as the northern connection point for the North Humber to High Marnham transmission line, one of the projects being delivered under National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade programme.

The substation forms part of National Grid’s wider investment programme across Yorkshire and the North East, where the transmission system operator (TSO) plans to invest GBP 8.6 billion over the next five years to increase network capacity and support the connection of new renewable energy projects.

The second phase of work in the area will see Creyke Beck substation also being expanded through a project known as Wanlass Beck, which will accommodate a further 3.2 GW of energy in the form of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and further offshore wind capacity.

Proposed to be built over 100 kilometres off the northeast coast of England, Dogger Bank South West (DBS West) and Dogger Bank South East (DBS East) secured Contracts for Difference (CfD) through the Allocation Round 7 (AR7) in January 2026. In May, the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero granted development consent for the two projects.

The two Dogger Bank South offshore wind farms are planned to have an installed capacity of 1.5 GW each and are expected to be commissioned in 2031 (DBS West) and 2032 (DBS East).

Last year, SSE and Equinor finalised a seabed lease with the Crown Estate to progress Dogger Bank D, the proposed fourth phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm, currently under construction off the coast of England in the North Sea.

Delivery of Dogger Bank D is subject to it securing a Development Consent Order (DCO) and project partners making a final investment decision.

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