The Dudgeon
Offshore Wind Farm project
is now welcoming its first ten operations and maintenance (O&M) personnel
onto the site at Berth 9 on the River Yare within the port of Great Yarmouth
in Norfolk.
The team will work out of temporary office accommodation while work progresses
to complete the conversion of an existing warehouse to create the Dudgeon
Offshore Wind Farm's dedicated
O&M base.
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The
main task for this team is to establish the onshore operations base, carry
out further recruitment for the operations organisation and provide onshore
logistic and operational support to the offshore wind farm construction
team, which is expected to begin the installation process in March 2016.
The conversion of the existing building
by East Anglian builders RG Carter is expected to be finished by the summer
of 2016. The Dudgeon
O&M team will over the next year grow to an organisation consisting
of 30-35 persons working onshore and supporting the 35-40 technicians working
offshore.
"I am very pleased to be established
in Great Yarmouth, and that we have reached this important stage of the
project," comments Dudgeon Operations Manager Rune Rønvik.
"It is a significant step for Statoil as an offshore wind farm operator,
and we are looking forward to developing good relationships with the public,
Great Yarmouth Borough Council and the local business community, who we
will be co-operating with for the next 25 years."
During the coming year, Statoil plans to
recruit 30 permanent positions filling the roles of engineers, control
room operators, planners and wind turbine technicians, plus 8 temporary
positions relating to the project phase - site managers and marine co-ordinators.
In addition, the company will be inviting tenders for local services to
support activities both at the base and offshore.
The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Ltd was on 11 November 2015 granted an electricity
generation licence from OFGEM. Dudgeon
Offshore Wind Limited is owned by two Norwegian companies, Statoil and
Statkraft, and Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, Masdar. Statoil
holds the responsibility as operator for both the construction and the
operational phase.
The project will be located 32 kilometres off the British coast, north
of the town of Cromer in North Norfolk (UK) and 20 kilometres northeast
of the Sheringham
Shoal Offshore Wind Farm. The
67
6MW Siemens Wind turbines will
give the wind farm a total capacity of 402 MW.
