The UK's windy and relatively shallow shelf waters extend far into the North Sea and make the island nation one of the world’s key locations for the exploitation of offshore wind.
Equinor operates the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm and Sheringham Shoal projects from its base in the small coastal town of Great Yarmouth. The operations and maintenance base is staffed by engineers and a planning team who oversee the safe operation of the turbines. All work on the turbines out on the farms is coordinated from the base control room.
A total of 155 turbines are installed at these two wind farms. Each requires three to four days of annual maintenance to enable them to withstand the harsh weather conditions. This is in addition to repairs and upgrades.
Why is Havtil making content about offshore wind?
Regulatory responsibility for offshore wind power was delegated to the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) in 2020. This authorises it to develop regulations for and conduct supervision of the development and operation of offshore wind farms.
A new set of regulations for renewable energy production offshore is under development.