4C Offshore Empowering Intelligence

Ørsted's Hornsea 2 wind farm is now fully operational

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 31/08/2022 Ørsted

Ørsted announced that the world's largest installed wind farm,
Hornsea 2, is now fully operational. The project is located 89km off the Yorkshire Coast,  alongside its sister project Hornsea 1, and is expected to help power over 1.4 million UK homes

Hornsea 2 is comprises of 165 wind turbines, and has an overall capacity of 1.3GW. Each turbine blade is 81m long and the blade tip reaches more than 200m above sea level. One revolution of the turbine blades can power an average UK home for 24 hours A total of 390km of subsea export cables take the power generated from Hornsea 2 to the shore at Horseshoe Point in Lincolnshire. The project will be serviced using Service Operations Vessel (SOV)
Wind of Hope  which is operating out of Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub in Grimsby.  

The project has also supported innovation, such as the development of the ‘Get Up Safe’ (GUS) motion-compensated lifting system by Pict Offshore. The company, which following development work with Ørsted received support from Scottish Enterprise, developed a new technology for lifting technicians onto wind turbine platforms that aims to be safer, simpler and more effective.

In October 2020, the project donated £1 million to the Horizon Youth Zone that will be built in the centre of Grimsby. This hub will be a brilliant place for young people to meet and learn new skills.

Patrick Harnett, Vice President UK Programme, Ørsted, said: “This project has been an amazing endeavour. To build the world’s largest offshore windfarm during a global pandemic has been a challenge that the team have overcome with flying colours. I am so proud of how our team has worked together to safely deliver this remarkable project. A huge thank you to all those involved in making it happen.”

Darren Ramshaw, Vice President, and Head of UK East Coast Region, Ørsted said: “Thanks to all those who have built the windfarm, our operations and maintenance teams are already at work. Hornsea 2 is another brilliant addition to our East Coast portfolio. Now Hornsea 2 is fully operational, our total capacity from Grimsby is 3.8GW, providing enough electricity to power 3.3 million homes. And it does not just stop there, by 2030, we will be on track to power over a quarter of UK households.  Our teams here work tirelessly on making sure Britain is powered by clean energy.”

Duncan Clark, Head of Region UK at Ørsted, said: "The UK is truly a world leader in offshore wind and the completion of Hornsea 2 is a tremendous milestone for the offshore wind industry, not just in the UK but globally. Current global events highlight more than ever the importance of landmark renewable energy projects like Hornsea 2, helping the UK increase the security and resilience of our energy supply and drive down costs for consumers by reducing our dependence on expensive fossil fuels.

“Not only will Hornsea 2 provide low cost, clean energy for millions of homes in the UK, it has also delivered thousands of high-quality jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s offshore wind supply chain. We look forward to working with government and industry colleagues to continue to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind for the benefit of homes and businesses across the country.”


The Hornsea Zone, an area of the North Sea covering more than 2,000 sq km, is also set to include
Hornsea 3. The 2.8GW project is planned to follow Hornsea 2 having been awarded a contract for difference from the UK government earlier this year.

With a capacity of 2,852 MW, Hornsea 3 is expected to produce enough electricity to power 3.2 million UK homes. It is  be located 160 km from the Yorkshire coast. In July 2022  it was awarded a CfD at an inflation-indexed strike price of €37.35/MWh in 2012 prices. When it is fully online, Ørsted’s Hornsea zone – comprising Hornsea 1, 2 and 3 – will have a total capacity of in excess of 5 GW.
Ørsted now has 13 operational offshore wind farms in the UK, providing 6.2GW of renewable electricity for the UK – enough to power more than 7 million homes. Hornsea 2 makes a significant contribution to Ørsted’s global ambition of installing 30 GW offshore wind by 2030. Ørsted currently has approx. 8.9 GW offshore wind in operation, approx. 2.2 GW under construction, and another almost 11 GW of awarded capacity under development including Hornsea 3.
 

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide, click here.

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