Hitachi Energy has won a major order from Ørsted to provide two high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems to transmit electricity from the Hornsea 3 wind farm, located more than 120 km off the U.K.’s east coast.
The wind farm will have the capacity to generate up to 2.85 GW of electricity. With more than 200 wind turbines installed across almost 700 square kilometers, this will be the single largest offshore wind farm in the world. This project is a significant step towards the British Energy Security Strategy ambition of sourcing up to 50 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Hitachi Energy has supported Ørsted with the grid connection of Hornsea 1 and 2, but Hornsea 3 will be the first phase to use HVDC application in the Hornsea cluster.
The overall HVDC system, including the offshore platform, is delivered in partnership with Aibel. Hitachi Energy will supply two HVDC Light converter systems, while Aibel will deliver two HVDC offshore converter platforms. The platform is based on Hitachi Energy’s modular HVDC system, including its MACH advanced control and protection system.
“Offshore wind is a critical part of the clean energy transition and our HVDC technology is vital for effective transmission to the mainland power grid,” says Niklas Persson, managing director of Hitachi Energy’s Grid Integration business. “To address the rapidly growing offshore market, partnerships and collaboration are key to deliver at the speed and scale required to reach our decarbonization and energy security goals.”
“The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy and the Hornsea projects are a significant step towards this goal in the UK,” comments Patrick Harnett, vice president of programs for the U.K. at Ørsted. “Together with Hitachi Energy, we are demonstrating that renewables like offshore wind are a huge part of the world’s sustainability journey. Hornsea 3 will not just provide low cost, clean energy for millions of homes in the U.K., it will also deliver thousands of high-quality jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the offshore wind supply chain in the U.K. and beyond.”
Hitachi Energy is supplying four HVDC converter stations, which convert AC power to DC for transmission in the subsea cables, then reconvert it to AC for integration into the onshore grid. Two of the converter stations will be installed on offshore platforms and two at mainland grid connections.
