Another step forward for Dudgeon offshore wind farm, supporting up to 450 jobs
The developers of Dudgeon offshore wind farm in East Anglia have today announced that they have made a Final Investment Decision.
The developers of Dudgeon offshore wind farm in East Anglia have today announced that they have made a Final Investment Decision. This marks an important stage in moving forward on a project that will see £1.5 billion of investment in offshore wind.
Based off the coast of north Norfolk, the wind farm is expected to support up to 450 jobs and bring hundreds of millions of pounds of investment into the UK’s economy. It could generate enough electricity to power approximately 410,000 homes.
Dudgeon is the first out of eight renewable electricity projects that signed an investment contract to announce its Final Investment Decision. As well as being the first contracts signed under the new system for low-carbon electricity generation, they mark a new stage in the growth of the sector, bringing green jobs and growth across the UK and supporting cleaner and more secure energy.
Energy Minister Michael Fallon said:
“Today’s decision underlines the success of our new contracts and will bring about a steady stream of investment in renewable electricity.As the best place in the world to invest in offshore wind, the UK is attracting millions of pounds of investment, supporting hundreds of local green jobs and strengthening its energy supply with home-grown sources. We have already attracted £34 billion of private sector investment in renewable electricity since 2010, with the potential to create almost 37,000 jobs in the UK.”
The wind farm could also create opportunities for manufacturers across the UK. Earlier this year, Siemens announced that they were investing £310 million to build two offshore wind manufacturing plants in Hull. The developers hope that many of the turbines at Dudgeon will come from these factories.
The seas around the UK already boast 4GW of installed offshore wind, which is more offshore wind capacity than any other country in the world. That’s enough clean energy to power over 2.7 million households a year – the size of the Greater Manchester.
Notes to Editors
- Dudgeon offshore wind farm is a fully consented, proposed offshore wind project, located 32 km [20 miles] off the coast of the seaside town of Cromer in North Norfolk. It has a maximum capacity of 402MW and it is expected to start generating electricity in 2017.
- It is a joint venture between two Norwegian energy companies, Statoil and Statkraft. They acquired project in October 2012 through the acquisition of all the shares in Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited, a subsidiary of the UK energy company Warwick Energy Limited.
- Investment Contracts are conditional on State Aid approval by the European Commission