DONG Energy has announced that the U.K. Secretary of State for Energy, Greg Clark, has granted development consent for the Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm, located 89 kilometers off the Yorkshire coast.
According to DONG, Hornsea Project Two will have a capacity of up to 1.8 GW and will consist of up to 300 turbines. Developed by SmartWind and owned by DONG Energy, the project is expected to meet the electricity needs of approximately 1.6 million U.K. homes per year.
Clark approved the Development Consent Order (DCO) at the recommendation of the Planning Inspectorate. According to the Secretary of State for Energy, the DCO covers the entire project, including turbines, foundations, offshore and onshore substations, array cables, and export cables.
Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy’s U.K. country chairman, comments, “We have already invested 6 billion [British pounds] in the U.K., and Hornsea Project Two provides us with another exciting development opportunity in offshore wind. A project of this size will help in our efforts to continue reducing the cost of electricity from offshore wind and shows our commitment to investing in the U.K.”
“Offshore wind is already on course to meet 10 percent of the U.K.’s electricity demand by 2020,” says Huub den Rooijen, director of energy, minerals and infrastructure at The Crown Estate. “Major developments of Hornsea Project Two’s scale will pave the way for its continued growth, alongside driving down costs, creating high-value jobs and supporting the U.K.’s transition to a low carbon energy supply.”
DONG Energy is now set to review the details of the DCO.
