South Tyneside manufacturer scores Dogger Bank contract

Alberto Via, UK Managing Director of METEC UK, said: “Over the last six months we’ve been absolutely delighted to win a number of domestic and international contracts, including in Scotland, France and Holland. These latest successes – and in particular the flagship Dogger Bank Wind Farm contract – justifies our commitment to South Tyneside, the north-east and the UK. Our success demonstrates our ability to support large, important and prestigious renewable energy projects of this nature throughout the UK and Europe.

“We have the capacity, capability and expertise at Metec that places us right at the heart of where we need to be in an industry which is set to see significant growth and investment over the next 10 years.

“As a young, ambitious and expanding company, which has invested over £4 million in premises and furnaces since 2017, we expect to see further growth throughout 2021. We are in this for the long term and we’re very excited for the future of Metec and the industry as a whole.”

Halfdan Brustad, Vice President for Dogger Bank at Equinor, said: “As we build up our operations in South Tyneside it’s great to see a local company not only win this flagship contract with the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, but also exporting to other countries.

“With ambitious targets to quadruple UK capacity in the next decade, the offshore wind industry provides billions of pounds of supply chain opportunities, and in supporting UK companies we will also build up a competitive supply chain that can win international contracts.

“We look forward to continuing to work with UK companies, particularly in northern England where we will operate the wind farm for decades to come.”

Metec UK is a sub-contractor with Dogger Bank Wind Farm’s tier one contractor, Smulders. Smulders was selected for the supply, fabrication and fit-out of the secondary steel for the transition pieces in late 2020. Smulders will work alongside Sif, the company selected to provide fabrication and supply of 190 monopiles and primary steel for the transition pieces.

The 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which is being delivered in the North Sea in three 1.2 GW phases, is set to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when complete. The first two phases, Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, each feature 95 turbines of 13 MW apiece. These are a joint venture between Equinor (40%), SSE Renewables (40%) and Eni (20%). The third phase, Dogger Bank C, is being developed on a different timescale and is owned by SSE Renewables (50%) and Equinor (50%).

The project partners reached financial close on the first two phases, Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, at the beginning of December. The Dogger Bank C financial decision is expected to come in late 2021. The projects will be capable of powering up to 4.5 UK million homes each year when complete in 2026. Each project is expected to generate around 6 TWh of electricity annually.

SSE Renewables is leading the development and construction phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and Equinor will lead on operations for its lifetime of up to 35 years.

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide, click here.