First electricity from Port of Tyne-based Dogger Bank wind farm reaches England

Staff at the Dogger Bank headquarters, at the Port of Tyne in South Shields, are celebrating the first electricity from the world’s largest offshore wind farm arriving in England.

The current, which travelled 130 kilometres from out in the North Sea, was recorded at the operations centre and fed directly into the national grid.

Mark Halliday, the Peterlee-born operations manager at the South Shields base, is in day-to-day charge of the wind farm which will eventually be capable of powering six million homes.

Speaking about the first volts, he said: “We are thrilled to celebrate achieving first power at Dogger Bank - a testament to the collective effort, dedication, and expertise of our team, partners, and supply chain.

“This milestone marks the beginning of a new chapter as we now embark on the exciting journey of operating Dogger Bank, powered from our state-of-the-art base at the Port of Tyne in the heart of North East England.

“The first power generation at Dogger Bank is not only a momentous milestone for renewable energy in the UK, but it also holds immense economic potential for the region, creating jobs and driving sustainable growth.”

The team at Dogger Bank in South Shields have spent the last year preparing for the moment when they begin tracking and monitoring the power generated by the wind farm.

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Tom Nightingale, the Equinor North East stakeholder manager, was the first person to be based at the new Port of Tyne facility last year and has expressed his pride at the moment that power was first recorded.

He commented: “We’ve been working for over 10 years with our project partners to get to this point and soon we will be producing so much electricity we will be controlling about five per cent of all the UK’s electricity from our facility.

“That’s significant for the region because the North East of England will be playing such an important role in providing security of supply to UK electricity and helping the country meet its net zero goals.

“I think this is a really proud moment for the region.

“This will be the world’s largest offshore windfarm when it is completed in 2026 and what we have been able to do across the country, but also in the North East, is replace other industries with new green energy projects.

“It’s a really amazing industry for the supply chain in the region because a lot of suppliers have moved from other industries into offshore wind and are now helping to build this important new industry.”

Dogger Bank has created more than 400 long-term highly skilled, highly paid jobs at the Port of Tyne, either directly with Equinor or the company’s project partners and supply chain.

The wind farm itself covers an area nearly the size of Greater London and sits on a seabed that once formed a land bridge between the UK and Europe.