Construction on the 1.8GW project, located 47km from the Norfolk coast, is expected to begin in 2023
The Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm will power up 1.95 million homes per year. (Credit: Vattenfall AB)
Vattenfall has secured the development consent order (DCO) from the UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for its 1.8GW Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
With the planning consent in place, the Swedish company will start to engage with the supply chain to prepare for construction, which is anticipated to be launched next year.
To be built more than 47km from the Norfolk coast, the Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm will meet the electricity needs of 1.95 million homes per year. It will also help the UK offset three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per annum.
As per the DCO, Vattenfall plans to construct and operate up to 200 wind turbine generators for the Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm.
The project also calls for the installation of up to two offshore electrical platforms, up to two accommodation platforms, up to two meteorological masts, LiDAR and wave buoys, subsea array and fibre optic cables, onshore transmission works, and others.
Norfolk Vanguard is part of the 3.6GW Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone. The other project which is part of this zone is the 1.8GW Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm, which was granted planning consent by the UK government in December 2021.
Overall, the Norfolk Vanguard and the Norfolk Boreas projects will power up 3.9 million homes to help the UK government in its plans to achieve 40GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Vattenfall business area wind head Helene Biström said: “Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas are industry leading projects, with their designs coordinated to minimise the impact on the environment and communities. We are very pleased to receive consent for Norfolk Vanguard.
“Although the decision was unfortunately made too late to enable us to bid this project in to the current CfD auction round 4, we will now look into potential opportunities to progress this project, working closely with the supply chain and local communities.”
In December last year, the company announced the final investment decision for Vesterhav Syd and Vesterhav Nord offshore wind farms to 344MW capacity to the Danish energy system.