The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is located between 32km off the coast of the seaside town of Cromer in North Norfolk. Since its completion in late 2017, this 402MW offshore wind farm has been producing enough green, clean energy to power more than 430,000 UK homes from its 67 6MW wind turbine generators.
Through the joint venture company Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited, the wind farm is owned by Equinor, Masdar and China Resources (Holdings), and Equinor is its operator having developed the £1.4b power plant between 2012 and 2017.
The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm currently is the wind farm furthest away from the UK’s shoreline, Dudgeons development and operations have involved Equinor’s innovative New Energy Solutions unit implementing innovative technologies and devising new working methodology.
One example is the use of the ESVAGT Njord service offshore vessel (SOV) to access the 67 offshore turbines and the offshore substation; this is a ‘first’ in the UK offshore wind industry, and one which will be watched with considerable interest by developers of the UK wind farms scheduled for construction in the early 2020’s.
As a company, Equinor’s skill-set has been shaped by years of operating in the hostile offshore conditions that come hand in hand with the hydrocarbon industry. There are now opportunities to harness that skill set and transfer it to the offshore renewables industry.
It really is “technology in transition”.
Eleven innovative STEM projects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) will be delivered in Norfolk during the 2023/24 academic year as a result of grants recently announced by the Dudgeon Community Fund.
The Dudgeon Community Fund has announced that eight organisations in Norfolk have been successful in gaining grant awards from its pilot funding scheme - the Dudgeon STEM Skills and Employability Fund for Younger People.
06 March 2023: Dudgeon Community Fund grants for STEM projects in Norfolk
The Dudgeon Community Fund has opened for grant applications to its STEM for Schools Programme (science, technology, engineering and maths) for projects to be delivered in the 2023/24 academic year, starting in September 2023.