Norwegian firm Statoil and its partners Masdar and Statkraft have started power supply from the first turbine at the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm to the UK National Grid.
Located 32km offshore Norfolk, UK, the £1.5bn ($2.5bn) wind farm is planned to be fully operational later in 2017 following completion of installation of the remaining 66 wind turbine generators.
The project features a total of 67 wind turbines designed to produce 1.7TWh of electricity annually, sufficient to meet energy requirement of 400,000 UK homes.
Statoil said that the Dudgeon project is part of its effort to gradually complement its oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions.
Statoil offshore wind senior vice president Stephen Bull said: "Building a profitable renewable portfolio on the foundation of 40 years of oil and gas experience is a competitive advantage.”
“We can leverage on our marine operations competence, our experience with complex projects and our supply chain. A lot of work remains, but seeing the first Dudgeon turbine producing electricity is very satisfying.”
Statoil says that together with its partners, it is developing an offshore wind portfolio to generate clean electricity required to power over 1 million European homes.
Norwegian firm is responsible for the construction and the operational phase of the project, in which it holds 35% stake as operator.
Masdar and Statkraft own 35% and 30% interest respectively in the offshore wind farm.
During its operational life of 25 years, the project is expected to offset 19 million tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere.
Image: First turbine delivers power from Statoil’s Dudgeon offshore wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Roar Lindefjeld/Woldcam – Statoil.