Why Britain built a wind farm 121 miles out at sea

Where is this wind farm and how far out is it?

The project is a cluster of sea-based wind sites in the North Sea, to the east of Yorkshire. One summary places the cluster roughly 130 to 200 kilometres from that coast ⁴. Another account gives a wider span of about 125km to 290km for the full scheme ².

The scheme is built in three parts, known as A, B and C ². A section linked to the Sofia name stands about 121 miles from land, said to be a greater shore gap than for any prior project with legs set in the ground ¹. A separate 100-turbine section is also reported at that 121-mile mark ³.

Range here means more than travel time. Each added mile is said to add strain for power links, supply runs and repair plans ¹. In one case a ship took six full machines at a time from Hull, placed them on bases far out, then sailed back for more ³.

Why place turbines where people once walked?

Shallow depth is the reason. The chosen rise lies some 50 to 120 feet under the sea, or near 65 feet higher than the bottom close by ³. That modest depth lets builders push steel supports down into the ground so they stay put ³.

The rise is thought to be the biggest unbroken sandy shallow in British seas ³. Ice sheets helped form it, and later sea rise covered it ³. Before that, the ground was cold open plain crossed by rivers that flowed toward the area now covered by the Channel ¹.

That former high plain has a name, Doggerland. Hunter groups moved across it on foot before sea water spread over it close to 8,000 years back ³. Because this old land stayed fairly high, fixed legs remain workable even past 100 miles from shore. Without that natural platform, builders would need floating units, a method said to be much less developed for large trade use ³.

How large are the machines?

The 100-machine section uses units rated at 14 megawatts apiece. Together they can reach 1.4 gigawatts, linked in the sources to power for around 1.2 million British homes ³. A megawatt measures power output, and a gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts.

Each of those tall units is said to stand 827 feet from sea level to tip top ¹. The middle section, Dogger Bank B, is called the biggest of the three parts. It is planned for 1.2 gigawatts and covers near 599 square kilometres ². Early work on the whole plan goes back to 2010 ².

How does the power get back to land?

Output from the Sofia section is gathered on a platform at sea, then sent through 137 miles of wire to reach land at Redcar in Teesside ¹. That wire run is thus longer than the 121-mile gap to the machines. The 100-turbine section is also said to use a 137-mile link of the same kind to Redcar ³.

The link uses high voltage direct current, shorted to HVDC. This is a form of electric flow suited to very long hauls with lower waste. At this span it is called the sole workable way to move bulk power without severe losses ¹. The path cannot follow a neat straight line. Dips, hazards and ground type force bends, which add miles ¹.

A sea platform that lifts voltage is seen as required at this span. It raises the flow so the wire does not waste most of the energy as heat on the way in ¹. So there are two key power sites: one far out at sea and one ashore at Redcar ¹.

Other parts take other shore paths. Sections A and B are due to tie into Creyke Beck near Cottingham in East Yorkshire ². Wires come ashore just north of Ulrome, then run for about 30km below ground to changeover points near Cottingham before joining the grid ². Section C is due to tie into an existing Teesside site at Lackenby ².

What stage is the build at now?

In early October 2026 the work was said to be moving on track. The developer SSE reported that fitting of machines for section B had moved past the middle mark ². That section is noted as the largest phase ².

Once finished, Equinor is due to run the site through its working life ². These sources give no firm end date or live output here, so readers should look to the firms or grid owner for the latest state as of October 3, 2026.