The UK Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change Minister, Greg Hands, has confirmed that Equinor’s Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Extension Projects (SEP and DEP) have been selected to progress as a ‘Pathfinder’ under the Offshore Transmission Network Review (OTNR).
The OTNR process is designed to develop an increasingly coordinated offshore transmission network to minimise the impacts to the community and the environment, reduce costs, and support the acceleration of offshore wind deployment, in line with the British Energy Security Strategy ambitions for 50 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. ‘Pathfinder’ projects are identified as projects that have the potential to deliver benefits on better coordinated offshore transmission systems in the near-term and provide important learnings for the other parts of the OTNR process.
Having been identified as a ‘Pathfinder’ project, SEP and DEP will continue to engage with the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy (BEIS) and its other OTNR partners to address regulatory and policy challenges related to delivering this combined approach, while progressing with project development. SEP and DEP will double the capacity of the existing Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon offshore wind farms off the Norfolk coast.