Greater Gabbard
Located 23km off Suffolk coast. Inner Gabbard (56 turbines) and Galloper Sand (84 turbines) arrays. Round 2 development.
Status
Operationallifecycle stage
Ownership
SSE Renewables — 50% ◆
RWE — 50% ◆Location
United KingdomNorth Sea
Technology
Capacity
504 MW ◆
Turbines
140 × 3.6 MW ◆
Model
Siemens Swt 3-6-107 ◆
Foundation
Monopile ◆
Site & conditions
Site rights
Seabed rights held ∴
Origination
Crown Estate Round 2 · 2003 ·
Water depth
24–34 m ◆
Distance from shore
23 km ◆
Wind speed
9.5 m/s @ 100 m ≈
Revenue & grid
Offtake
Other ∅
Grid
Secured · 19 Feb 2007 ◆
Connection
Onshore substation at Sizewell, Suffolk (132kV XLPE subsea … ◆
Schedule
FID
Taken · date not recorded ∅
COD
Sep 2012 ◆
Project timeline & ownership verified milestones on the spine · ownership from Hafrok’s transactions record
Origination · 2003-12
Crown Estate Round 2
- Awarded to
- SSE / RWE
- Basis
- seabed award
From the auction results — the round that created the project.
Secondary trade · 2008-05
Fluor International → SSE Renewables 50%
- Stake
- 50%
- Consideration
- €50.5m
- Implied 100% value
- €101m
- Implied
- €0.20m / MW
- Basis
- Price for the equity
- Announced
- 2008-05
- Project stage
- consented
SSE acquired Airtricity in February 2008 (which held 50% of Greater Gabbard) and shortly thereafter bought out Fluor International's remaining 50% co-development stake for GBP 40m. SSE had always intended to retain only 50% and sell the rest. Project had consent at this point (granted 2007). EUR figure at the ECB 2008-05 monthly average (1.2625 EUR per GBP).
Evidence
From Hafrok’s transactions record
Farmdown · 2008-11
SSE Renewables → RWE 50%
- Stake
- 50%
- Consideration
- €371m
- Implied 100% value
- €743m
- Implied
- €1.47m / MW
- Basis
- Price for the equity
- Announced
- 2008-11
- Project stage
- under construction
SSE sold 50% of Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited to RWE npower renewables, completed on 3 November 2008, establishing the 50:50 joint venture. SSE's accounts put the proceeds at GBP 308.5m in cash: GBP 142.9m for 50% of the equity and GBP 165.6m reimbursing half the capital costs already incurred, taken over as half of the shareholder loans. Construction continued with both owners funding it through shareholder loans; the farm was fully operational from September 2012 and its export cables were sold to the OFTO in November 2013. EUR figure at the ECB 2008-11 monthly average.
Evidence
- nsenergybusiness.com ↗
- modernpowersystems.com — SSE sells Greater Gabbard stake to RWE ↗ 2008-11 ◆ held
- SSE plc — SSE plc - Annual Report 2009 (year to 31 March 2009) ↗ 2009-05 ◆ held
- Companies House — Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited - accounts to 31 March 2009 ↗ ◆ held
- Companies House — Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited - accounts to 31 March 2010 ↗ ◆ held
- Companies House — Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited - accounts to 31 March 2011 ↗ ◆ held
- Companies House — Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited - accounts to 31 March 2012 ↗ ◆ held
- Companies House — Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited - accounts to 31 March 2013 ↗ ◆ held
- Companies House — Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited - accounts to 31 March 2014 ↗ ◆ held
- Ofgem — Offshore Transmission: Cost Assessment for the Greater Gabbard transmission assets ↗ 2013-11 ◆ held
From Hafrok’s transactions record
Dashed tick marks today (13 Oct 2026). The teal diamond on the spine is origination — the seabed award or round that created the project. Every other ownership event lives in the band below: one station per recorded deal, dated at its label, in deal order rather than to calendar scale. Secondary trades appear only at the interchanges; grey lines are parties whose entry or exit Hafrok’s record does not hold.
Announced-COD history: 2012-Q3→2012-09 · 2 recorded revisions · held within the year (first announced 2012-Q3, latest 2012-09)
Revenue & offtake the regime the project was built under
Offtake regime on record
RegimeRenewables Obligation: ~2.0 ROCs/MWh (offshore wind accredited ~2012 under ROO 2009 — rate UNCONFIRMED; no project-specific Ofgem accreditation record located)
A built project sells its power under the contract or support regime it was financed with; it is not expected to bid into new government offtake rounds. Where the record does not yet name that regime, the row says so rather than guessing.
Installation how the build is going · from sourced statements and Hafrok’s registers
Installation complete
Installation · on record
StageOperational
In operation since2012-09
Offshore construction2009 → 2012-09
Construction ports
PortPort of Harwich ∅construction base
Grid connection
from Hafrok’s substation, converter and cable registers
Offshore platforms · 2
Offshore substationInner Gabbard offshore substation·33/132 kV · in service 2012 · owner Greater Gabbard OFTO Plc; built by Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Ltd (SSE / RWE npower renewables JV)
Offshore substationThe Galloper offshore substation·33/132 kV · in service 2012 · owner Greater Gabbard OFTO Plc; built by Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Ltd (SSE / RWE npower renewables JV)
Grid connection · ready in time?
when each part of the grid connection is due, against the start date the developer states (black line) · a bar spans the whole year, quarter or month the source gives
installed or in serviceexpected deliveryearlier date that was later moved
Sources & verification
Rests on 10 sources (9 primary) · ◆ 7 documents held
◆Verified≈Modelled◇Sourced∴Inferred⌁Convention○Unverified∅No source·Derived
Numbers are stable citation ids — grouped by source class, so they are not consecutive.
Regulator1
[10]
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026-05-06◆ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD…
“REPD Q1 2026 quarterly extract — Ref ID 2510: Site Name "Greater Gabbard Wind Farm", Development Status "Operational", Installed Capacity 504 MWelec, Operator "Airtricity / Fluor Ltd"”
supportsRegister entry
Operator7
[1]
Fluor Corporation2007-02-19◆ Greater Gabbard Wind Farm Receives Conse…
“Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited (GGOWL), an Airtricity and Fluor joint venture, today received planning permission for the construction of an offshore wind farm to be located 25km off the coast…”
supportsConsentTurbinesStatusConnection pointDistance from shore+1 more
[2]
RWE AG2022-06-20◆ RWE wins long term service & maintenance…
“Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm is a joint venture between RWE Renewables (50%) and SSE Renewables (50%) and has been in operation since 2012, generating enough low-carbon renewable energy each yea…”
supportsTurbinesUnit capacityTotal capacity
[3]
RWE AG2022-09-07◆ A decade of clean energy celebrated at G…
“All 140 turbines of the joint venture between RWE Renewables (50%) and SSE Renewables (50%) have been operational since September 2012 [...] Located in the North Sea, around 20km off the coast of Suff…”
supportsCommercial operationCOD historyTurbinesTotal capacity
[5]
Fluor Corporation2013
“Onshore construction began in 2008 [...] offshore construction in summer 2009. 140 wind turbines total, each rated at 3.6 MW capacity. Steel monopiles: 84,000 tons total. Three 132-kilovolt subsea cab…”
supportsTurbinesModelUnit capacityFoundation
[6]
SSE Renewables2024◆ Greater Gabbard | SSE Renewables
“504MW offshore wind farm [...] 50:50 Joint Venture between SSE Renewables and RWE Renewables. A pioneering project for the UK offshore wind industry. Development rights were awarded in 2003, planning …”
supportsFirst powerTotal capacityCoordinates
[8]
[11]
National Energy System Operator (NESO)2026-07-21◆ NESO Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) R…
“NESO TEC Register, edition 21 July 2026 - PRO-000168: "Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm", Status "Built", MW Connected 500, Effective From n/a, Customer "GREATER GABBARD OFFSHORE WINDS LIMITED"”
supportsRegister entry
Trade press2
[4]
[9]