Paul Cooley, Director of Offshore – Global at SSE Renewables (left) and Dan McGrail, Chief Executive of RenewableUK, pictured at the launch of a new report which outlines how SSE Renewables has progressed over the last two decades to become the company building more offshore wind energy than any other in the world right now. The milestone report has launched at Global Offshore Wind 2023, hosted by RenewableUK this week at London’s ExCeL Arena. Picture credit: RenewableUK
To mark its 20th Anniversary in offshore wind delivery, SSE Renewables has published a new report which outlines how it has progressed over the last two decades to become the company building more offshore wind energy than any other in the world right now. The milestone report has been launched today at Global Offshore Wind 2023 which is taking place this week at London’s ExCeL Arena.
Celebrating two decades of offshore wind delivery by SSE Renewables, the report documents how the company has grown to become a world-leader since it first embarked into offshore wind 20 years ago with its first development, the 25MW Arklow Bank project in the Irish Sea. In the 20 years since, SSE Renewables has contributed to the development and delivery of 1.5GW of installed offshore wind capacity already operating in UK and Irish waters.
Today, the company is leading the construction of almost 5GW of new offshore wind generation, almost 200-times the capacity of the first offshore wind farm it co-developed and installed at Arklow Bank in 2003. This construction pipeline includes the 1.1GW Seagreen, Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farm, and the 3.6GW Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm currently in construction, both of which represent a combined £12bn spend in infrastructure capex*.
SSE Renewables also has the largest secured offshore wind development pipeline in the UK and Ireland at over 9GW. This includes projects such as Ossian, its first global-scale venture into floating wind, and Berwick Bank which is setting new biodiversity standards. The company also boasts an unrivalled 5GW future pipeline of prospects including a potential fourth phase for the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank, as well as over 3GW of new capacity around Ireland at Celtic Sea Array, Setanta and Tarbert.
Internationally, SSE Renewables is expanding into new markets where the offshore wind opportunity is immense and critical to achieving significant emissions reductions.
Paul Cooley, Director of Offshore – Global at SSE Renewables, said:
“I’m extremely proud we are marking this milestone in our company’s progression with the publication of this 20th Anniversary report. It’s only when you stop to take stock of what we have achieved so far, both as an organisation and as part of the global offshore wind sector, that we can fully appreciate how our actions, past and present, are powering real change and have contributed to an offshore wind revolution.
“As a company, we’re committed to taking action to address the climate emergency by delivering offshore projects on a global scale. 20 years ago, when we first embarked into offshore wind with the development of a 25MW project at Arklow Bank, it was the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Two decades on, and the scale of what we are now delivering is extraordinary when compared with what has gone before. We’re now delivering the world’s largest offshore wind farm currently in construction, the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm, as part of a nearly 5GW build pipeline which means we’re leading the construction of more offshore wind than any other company in the world.
“Looking forward to the next 20 years, we’re pushing frontiers in the technological and sustainable delivery of new projects. These advancements in project delivery, from the deployment of floating technology to embedding biodiversity at the heart of how we develop new offshore wind projects, will transform our sector as we progress towards a net zero energy system by 2050. Because the world needs action at scale to deliver a sustainable future for the planet, and it will be the offshore wind industry that will be at the fore of leading this charge.”
SSE Renewables’ offshore wind development portfolio is at the heart of SSE plc’s overall Net Zero Acceleration Programme Plus which will see the FTSE-listed company invest £18bn to 2027, the equivalent of £10 million each day, in the UK and Ireland. This plan will be crucial in turning UK and Irish Government targets for net zero from ambition into reality.
You can read the report here: SSE Renewables - Celebrating 20 Years of Offshore Wind
* Dogger Bank Wind Farm is a joint venture with Equinor and Vårgrønn. Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm is a joint venture with TotalEnergies.