Tata Steel UK supplies sections for Dogger Bank wind farm

Tata Steel, which has steelmaking operations in the Netherlands and the UK and manufacturing plants across Europe, said Dec. 22 its UK-made steel is being used to create the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank, 130 km (81 miles) off the northeast coast of England in the North Sea.

Steel made in Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plant and processed into hollow sections at the company’s Corby and Hartlepool sites, all in the UK, is now being fabricated by one of the thousands of contract companies engaged building the first two phases of the Dogger Bank wind farm.

Tata Steel is supplying about 250 tons of steel per wind turbine. To endure the North Sea environment, this is made of the fully normalized hot finished hollow sections of EN 10210, designed to perform in the most arduous conditions. These hollow sections are going into the access platform and associated steelwork — the connection between the wind tower foundation and the jacket above.

Dogger Bank’s first two phases were reported to use 190 13MW offshore wind turbines, but the steelmaker has not specified whether its steel will be used in all of them.

“Huge amounts of steel will be needed to help the UK achieve its net-zero goals — to build everything from renewable energy and low-CO2 transportation to hydrogen production and distribution,” said Sandip Biswas, chairman of Tata Steel UK.

Based on the expected need for carbon capture, utilization and storage and hydrogen infrastructure, this additional demand for steel is likely to run into more than a million tons by 2050, according to industry estimates.

— Ekaterina Bouckley