HIDEF CONGRATULATES FOREWIND ON CONSENT FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND FARM
Dogger Bank Creyke Beck – comprising two offshore wind farms – was today granted development consent by the Department for Energy and Climate Change signalling a new phase on offshore wind farm development for the United Kingdom. Dogger Bank Creyke Beck is the largest offshore wind consent award Worldwide to date and one in which HiDef Aerial Surveying Limited (HiDef) has played an important role.
The Dogger Bank Creyke Beck project is being developed by Forewind, a consortium comprising four leading international energy companies which joined forces to bid for and develop the Dogger Bank Zone as part of The Crown Estate’s third licencing round for UK offshore wind farms (known as Round 3). Dogger Bank Creyke Beck is the first stage of development in the Dogger Bank Zone and will have an installed capacity of up to 2.4GW when fully constructed.
The Dogger Bank Zone is located between 125 and 290 kilometres (km) off the east coast of Yorkshire and with an area of approximately 8,660 square kilometres is the largest of the nine Round 3 zones.
HiDef started work at the Dogger Bank Zone for The Crown Estate in 2009, collecting information about the types and distribution of marine mammal and bird species. HiDef continued this after the zone was awarded to Forewind and worked for Forewind on the Dogger Bank Zone between 2010 and 2014, carrying out monthly surveys across this challenging and remote area.
Between 2009 and 2014, HiDef flew in excess of 315 200km for both The Crown Estate and Forewind across the Dogger Bank Zone, with over half of this being dedicated survey time. If flown in one single line, this would equate to almost eight times around the Earth’s circumference!
From the high resolution digital video footage collected while flying this colossal distance, HiDef’s experienced review and identification team positively identified over half a million individual birds and 10,000 marine mammals.
One particular point of pride for HiDef is the fact that during the entire time working for both The Crown Estate and Forewind at Dogger Bank in an incredibly challenging offshore environment, neither HiDef nor its aircraft operators had a single recordable health, safety or environment incident.
HiDef’s Commercial Director, Kit Hawkins said:
“The whole team at HiDef is delighted to see the Dogger Bank Creyke Beck project granted development consent, in a milestone for the offshore renewables industry not only in the UK but also Worldwide. Forewind’s achievement in gaining consent for this project is an important step in creating a low-carbon future and delivering security of supply.
HiDef is extremely proud of the role that we have played in helping to support Forewind’s ambition for the Dogger Bank Zone and we hope to build upon this relationship with Forewind’s parent companies over the next few years.
Our congratulations go to the whole project team, both within HiDef and Forewind, in what has been a monumental achievement for all involved.”
Gareth Lewis, Forewind’s Head of Offshore Development responded:
“Throughout our four-year working relationship, Forewind really enjoyed working with the HiDef team to help develop a ground-breaking project. HiDef’s professional approach meant that we were able to collect vital bird and marine mammal data in a massively challenging environment, often using multiple aircraft across multiple days.
HiDef has some staggering statistics about the miles flown and numbers of individuals identified and the HiDef team should be proud of its involvement in this project, especially with its exemplary health and safety record.”
