This giant unmanned structure is one of three offshore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) substations being built for Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, located 130 km off the North East coast of England. This first substation is pictured in the dock at Haugesund, Norway, where it was fitted with more than 640 specialist marine LED luminaires, ahead of its transportation to Dogger Bank A in the North Sea, where it is now in location and being prepared for the start of operations. Glamox, a world leader in lighting, won the order from Aibel to light Dogger Bank A, B, and C substations.
The substation is where the AC electricity produced by the wind turbines is brought together and converted by transformers to a high-voltage direct current transmission before being relayed by cable to land. The Dogger Bank A substation will be linked to 95 GE Haliade-X 13 MW wind turbines. Each turbine has a 220-metre diameter and 107-metre-long blades.
Glamox is providing marine-certified external and internal LED luminaires for the substations. These include tough, anticorrosive, waterproof linear luminaires and floodlights for lighting gantries, walkways, cranes, doors, stairwells, corridors, and machine rooms.
For Dogger Bank, Glamox also lights some of the turbine transition pieces, which is the tubular steel structure that serves as the transition between the monopile foundation and the wind turbine. Glamox is also lighting commissioning service operation vessels and Thialf, the semi-submersible crane vessel used to assemble the turbines, substation jacket, and topside.
Dogger Bank will provide clean renewable electricity to power 6 million UK homes. Developed in three 1.2GW phases, it is a joint venture partnership between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%), and Vårgrønn (20%). Dogger Bank A is expected to start operating in the summer of 2023.