Dogger Bank Wind Farm Project

Dogger Bank Wind Farm

the largest off shore wind farm under construction

The Dogger Bank wind farms located in the North Sea,UK, will comprise three 1.2GW offshore wind farms namely, Creyke Beck A, Creyke Beck B, and Teesside A.

Dogger Bank wind farms, a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between SSE Renewables and Equinor, is developing the 3.6GW project, which is set to be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm. SSE Renewables is responsible for the project development and construction, while Equinor will be in charge of operations.

The total investment in the Dogger Bank wind farms project is estimated to be £9bn ($11bn). The three wind farms will be capable of generating sufficient power for approximately 4.5 million UK homes, while meeting approximately 5% of the country’s total electricity demand.

Onshore construction works on the Dogger Bank wind power project were started in January 2020, while the offshore construction works commenced in 2021, with first power from the project expected in 2023.

Dogger Bank wind farms location

The Dogger Bank zone extends over 8,660km², approximately 125km to 290km off the coast of Yorkshire, UK.

Located roughly 131km from the shore, the Creyke Beck A and B wind project sites will occupy

515km² and 599km² of area, respectively. The Teeside A wind project site that lies 196km from the coast will cover an area of 560km².

Turbines installed at Dogger Bank

The offshore wind farms will be installed with Haliade-X turbines from GE. At 12MW rated capacity, Haliade-X is claimed to be the world’s most powerful wind turbine till date. Dogger Bank will be the first European wind project to use these turbines.

With a total height of 260m, each Haliade-X turbine will have a 220m-diameter rotor and 107m-long blades. The annual generation capacity of each turbine will be 67GWh, which will be enough to meet the power needs of approximately 16,000 European households. Each turbine is expected to offset up to 42 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 9,000 vehicles. The turbine components will be loaded on to heavy lifting vessels for transportation to the site.

The prototype of GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW offshore wind turbine was inaugurated at the port of Maasvlakte-Rotterdam in the Netherlands in December 2019.

The Design

DavisandShirtliff.com

Power transmission

Each wind farm will require approximately 300km of inter-array cables to gather and transfer the electricity generated by the turbines to an offshore platform.

Electricity from Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck B wind farms will be transmitted through subsea export cables to two new onshore converter stations that will be built on an 11ha-site to the north of A1079 road. Measuring between 172km and 191km in length, each subsea export cable will make landfall on the Holderness Coast near Ulrome.

Electricity from the landfall site will be further transmitted through 30km of underground cables to the converter stations for conversion from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).

Underground cabling of 2km will be installed for power transmission to the existing Creyke Beck national grid substation.

The subsea export cable from the Teesside A will take a different route to connect with another onshore converter station at Teesside, before connecting with the Lackenby national grid substation at Teesside.

Contractors involved

• GE Renewables Energy will supply Haliade-X wind turbines for the project, under a contract awarded in October 2019. • Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT), a heavy transport and installation contractor based in Norway, was selected preferred supplier for foundation installation for the Dogger Bank wind power project in November 2019. • OHT’s Alfa Lift heavy installation crane vessel, which is expected to be the world’s biggest custom-built offshore wind foundation vessels when launched in 2021, will be used for the transport and installation of monopile foundations and transition pieces for the Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck B wind farms. • Jan De Nul was contracted to transport and install the Dogger

Bank wind turbines using its new offshore jack-up installation vessel Voltaire in October 2019. • Aibel was contracted to deliver two HVDC offshore converter platforms, while ABB was contracted to supply its HVDC

Light® converter system for the Creyke Beck A and Creyke

Beck B projects in the same month. • NKT is the supplier of high-voltage DC offshore export power cables for the Creyke Beck A and B wind farms. • The scope of the contract, worth £318m (€360m), involves the supply of 320kV DC export cables for offshore as well as onshore sections, apart from the installation of cables with the use of NKT Victoria vessel. • Jones Bros Civil Engineering, a civil engineering contractor based in North Wales, is engaged for the installation of onshore cable infrastructure for the Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck

B sites. The scope of the contract also includes earthworks for onshore HVDC convertor stations in East Riding.

Lagos Rail Mass Transit Project

Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, is constructing a light rail system under a public-private partnership (PPP). The Lagos Rail Mass Transit System project is sponsored by the Lagos State Government (LSG) and being developed by Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) on behalf of LSG.

LAMATA has proposed seven lines in the network: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Brown and Orange. China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) was appointed as the contractor for the construction of the first line (Blue). The contract includes the fundamental design and development of the rail infrastructure.

CCECC is constructing the Blue line in two phases. The first phase includes the National Theatre to Mile 2 section and the second involves the Mile 2 to Okokomaiko section.

Construction of the Blue line was initially expected to be completed by 2011 but was delayed to 2020 due to funding issues. Alstom also partnered with LAMATA for the completion of Blue line.

Redline and Bue Line

The first two lines of the urban light rail project are estimated to cost $1.4bn. The Red line will be 30km long and will run between Marina and Agbado. The Blue line will be 27km long, connecting Okokomaiko to Marina.

The Blue line will cost $1.2bn and is being funded entirely by the Lagos State Government (LSG). In May 2012, the Lagos government commenced negotiations with potential investors for the operation and maintenance of the line.

The 30km-long Red line will use the existing Nigeria Railway Corporation corridor, constructed through a concession arrangement. The construction of the line will commenced in 2021.

Concession contract

The concession contract will be for the operation and maintenance of the lines for 25 years. The scope of work for the concessionaire will also include design and construction of the infrastructure associated with the performance and support of the lines.

The transaction adviser for the Red line is Dar Al-Handasah. CPCS Transcom is the transaction adviser for the Blue line. The two transaction advisers conducted feasibility studies and conceptual design work for their respective lines.

Line routes of Lagos rail mass transit system

The Blue line starts at Marina station and runs along Ebute Ero and Iddo stations, same as the Red line. From Iddo, the Blue line running on an elevated platform moves along the National Theatre station. It makes a descent at Iganmu to join the expanded Lagos-Badagry Expressway. finally reaches the Okokomaiko station where it ends. One of the two bridges being built for the Blue line is at Mile 2.

The Red line begins as a double line at Marina and runs through Ebute Ero ending at Iddo. It then runs northwards via a reverse curve to reach Ebute Metta. The line goes straight to Yaba, Mushin and Oshodi before reaching Ikeja. At the Ikeja station, the Red line is linked to the line from the international and domestic airport terminal. From Ikeja, a single line will run to the airport terminals. The Red line moves as a double line further northwards from Ikeja to pass through Agege, Iju and finally reaches Agbado.

The passenger railway service run by Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) from the north will terminate at the Agbado interchange. Passengers travelling to Marina using NRC services will change train at Agbado and continue their journey on the Red line. Some of the Red line section from Agbado will run on NRC corridor tracks.

Island-style platforms

The Red and Blue lines will have 13 stations each. Three stations in the south end of the Red line will be shared with the Blue line. The two railway lines will, therefore, comprise 23 stations in total.

The stations will have island-style platforms and commuter payment systems. Public address and electronic information screens will be installed in each station. The Ebute Ero station will also have an escalator.

Several rail crossings with elevated road structures will be built along the lines. A total of 35 pedestrian bridges will be constructed over the Nigerian Railway Corridor. Cable ducts and walkways, in addition to drainage system with two walls, will be built along different sections of the lines.

Between Marina and Iddo stations, a combined 5km viaduct rail over the road and a cable-stay bridge will be built, linking the Red and Blue lines.

Other infrastructures being built as part of the project include stations; signalling, control and communications (SC&C) systems; supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems; depot and workshop facilities; an operations control centre and a training facility for train drivers.

Rolling stock

The urban rail network is anticipated to operate with 12-car trains, with more cars added according to demand. The maximum number of cars will, however, be limited to 16 a train. The 16-car trains will be 352m long and12-car trains 264m long. The cars will accommodate 300 passengers each.

Signalling and communications

The light rail system will employ the latest train authorisation systems, automatic train protection (ATP) and in-cab signalling in all of its lines. The wayside equipment will be minimised so that the drivers will not exceed the authorised movement limits.

The ATP will help to maintain the speed restrictions set on the lines. To ensure that the signalling is available during power cuts, a backup power system will be fitted.