Ørsted’s Hornsea 2, currently the world’s largest installed wind farm, is now fully operational. The 1.3 GW offshore wind farm comprises 165 wind turbines, located 89 kilometers off the Yorkshire Coast. The wind farm is situated alongside its sibling Hornsea 1; together, the projects can power 2.5 million homes.
The Hornsea zone, an area of the North Sea covering more than 2,000 square kilometers, is also set to include Hornsea 3. The 2.8 GW project is planned to follow Hornsea 2, having been awarded a contract for difference from the U.K. government earlier this year.
Hornsea 2 has played a key role in the ongoing development of a supply chain to support the next phase of U.K.’s offshore wind. In the past five years alone, Ørsted has placed major contracts with nearly 200 U.K. suppliers. Ørsted has invested GBP 4.5 billion in the U.K. supply chain to date and expects to make another GBP 8.6 billion of U.K. supply chain investments over the next decade.
Ørsted now has 13 operational offshore wind farms in the U.K., providing 6.2 GW of renewable electricity for the U.K. Hornsea 2 makes a 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 approx. 11 GW of awarded capacity under development including Hornsea 3.
“The U.K. 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 U.K. but globally,” says Duncan Clark, head of region U.K. at Ørsted. “Current global events highlight more than ever the importance of landmark renewable energy projects like Hornsea 2, helping the U.K. increase the security and resilience of its energy supply and drive down costs for consumers by reducing dependence on expensive fossil fuels.”
“Not only will Hornsea 2 provide low cost, clean energy for millions of homes in the U.K., it has also delivered thousands of high-quality jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the U.K.’s offshore wind supply chain.” Continues Clark. “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.”
I ALWAYS want to know how these projects compare to the existing resource and/or total electricity consumption. I believe this is an increase to existing UK wind of about 6 or 7%, and that means it increases total UK supply about 3%, but I would like to see those values presented by someone who has the accurate data. In today’s world, it would also be interesting to know how much of UK’s natural gas requirements and/or imports it displaces. Finally, the most important information that is never available is the relative costs. I understand in the U.S. that generators have… Read more »