TECON provided comprehensive detailed engineering services for the Dogger Bank A & B offshore substation jackets, one of the world’s largest offshore wind farm projects. Working as a key engineering partner for SAIPEM, TECON delivered complete structural design solutions for two massive jacket foundations supporting the offshore electrical substations for SSE and Equinor’s groundbreaking Dogger Bank wind farm development in the North Sea.
The Dogger Bank project represents a significant milestone in renewable energy infrastructure, with the substation platforms serving as critical connection hubs for transmitting clean energy from wind turbines to the UK national grid. The challenging North Sea environment, combined with the massive scale of the structures and stringent offshore engineering requirements, demanded advanced structural analysis capabilities and extensive experience in offshore foundation design.
The project encompassed the complete detailed design of two identical jacket structures, each weighing approximately 3,000 tons and supporting topside platforms of 9,000 tons. These massive four-leg steel frame structures are arranged in a 37.7m x 37.7m square configuration, installed in water depths of approximately 28.5 meters in the challenging North Sea environment.
TECON’s engineering team executed comprehensive structural analysis using advanced finite element modeling techniques to ensure the jacket structures could withstand extreme North Sea environmental conditions including wave loading, current forces, wind loads, and seismic considerations. The design incorporated fatigue analysis for the 25-year operational life and accounted for installation loads, construction tolerances, and long-term corrosion protection requirements.
The foundation pile design required sophisticated geotechnical analysis to optimize pile penetration depths and wall thickness variations, ensuring adequate axial and lateral load capacity while minimizing steel weight. TECON coordinated closely with SAIPEM’s fabrication and installation teams to ensure constructability and developed detailed fabrication drawings, welding procedures, and quality control documentation for the yard construction phase.
