The Norfolk Boreas project is a 1.8GW offshore wind power generation facility planned to be constructed in the North Sea, UK. It is the first phase of the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone, which will have a total installed capacity of 3.6GW.
Vattenfall is the owner of the offshore wind farm and is developing the project through its wholly-owned subsidiary Norfolk Boreas.
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The UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy granted planning consent for the Norfolk Boreas project in December 2021.
Construction on the project is expected to commence in 2023 and the offshore wind farm will enter into full operations in the late 2020s.
At full capacity, the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to power approximately 1.5 million homes in the UK, with an estimated initial operational life of 25 years.
Vattenfall was awarded the Contracts for Difference (CfD) by the UK government for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm in July 2022.
Location and site details
The Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm will be located approximately 72km off the coast of Norfolk, in the North Sea, UK.
The project site will cover a total area of 725km2 and the water depths across the area ranges from approximately 22m to 41m.
Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm details
The Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm development will consist of an array of offshore wind turbines, foundations, offshore substations, offshore cable corridor, and underground cables to transmit electricity to the grid.
The project is expected to feature SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbines to be supplied by Siemens Gamesa. With a swept area of 43,500m2, the turbines are designed to have the capability to reach 15MW capacity with the company’s power boost feature. The turbines will have a rotor diameter of 236m, with a blade length of 115m.
The Norfolk Boreas offshore cable corridor, with an expected 96km in length, will include export cables to deliver the electricity supplied to the offshore substations to landfall that will be in the Happisburgh village in Norfolk county.
The onshore part of the offshore wind farm development will include the installation of underground cables between an onshore substation related to the project and an existing substation of the national grid. The onshore cable corridor is expected to be 63km in length.
Power evacuation
The electricity generated by the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm will be evacuated into the grid through the existing Necton 400kV National Grid substation.
Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone
The Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone will include the development of two wind farms, Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard, covering a total area of 1,307km².
Planning consent for the Norfolk Vanguard wind farm was awarded in February 2022 and the project will have a capacity of 1.8GW, similar to that of Norfolk Boreas.
Upon completion, the Norfolk Zone projects are expected to generate sufficient electricity to power more than four million homes in the UK.
Contractors involved
Siemens Gamesa was nominated by Vattenfall as a preferred turbine supplier for Norfolk offshore wind power projects in November 2021.
A consortium of Aker Solutions and Siemens Energy was selected as a preferred bidder for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract to supply high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) converter platforms for the project in February 2021.
Royal HaskoningDHV was engaged by Vattenfall to support the preparation of the Development Consent Order (DCO) application for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind project.
BECG was contracted to develop and execute a communications and consultation programme for the DCO application. The scope of the contract included the development of detailed stakeholder mapping, and the community and stakeholder risk register development and management.
Copper Consultancy was selected to support the launch of a public consultation on the Norfolk Boreas project.
Fugro was contracted to conduct a marine site characterisation campaign for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind project.
RSK Consents Solutions was engaged by Vattenfall to obtain the landowner agreements required for the cable route of the offshore wind farm.
APEM was awarded a contract to deliver aerial surveys to collect information on the species, distribution and population densities of birds and marine mammals in the Norfolk Boreas project area.
