Hornsea 2, the world’s biggest offshore wind farm with its 165 turbines, is now fully operational and set to help power more than 1.4 million U.K. homes.
The 1.3GW project is located 55 miles off the Yorkshire Coast and helps provide low-cost, clean, and secure renewable energy. It is situated alongside its sister project Hornsea 1, which together can power 2.5 million homes and make a significant contribution to the UK Government’s ambition of having 50 GW offshore wind in operation by 2030.
The Hornsea Zone, an area of the North Sea covering more than 770 square miles, is also set to include Hornsea 3. The 2.8GW project is planned to follow Hornsea 2 having been awarded a contract for the difference from the UK government earlier this year.
It is worth noting that in the past five years alone, Ørsted placed major contracts with nearly 200 UK suppliers with $5.2 billion invested to date and a further $10 billion expected to be invested over the next decade.
Ørsted said that it 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 around 8.9 GW offshore wind in operation, 2.2 GW under construction, and another almost 11 GW of awarded capacity under development including Hornsea 3.
“This project has been an amazing endeavor. Building the world’s largest offshore wind farm during a global pandemic has been a challenge that the team overcame with flying colors. 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,” Patrick Harnett, Vice President of UK Program at Ørsted, said.
“Thanks to all those who have built the wind farm, 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, and 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,” Darren Ramshaw, Vice President and Head of UK East Coast Region at Ørsted, added.
“Not only will Hornsea 2 provide low-cost, clean energy for millions of homes in the UK, but 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,” Duncan Clark, Head of Region UK at Ørsted, claimed.
As for Hornsea2, the wind farm spans more than 64,000 football pitches. Each turbine blade is 265 feet long and the blade tip reaches more than 656 feet above sea level. One revolution of the turbine blades can power an average UK home for 24 hours.
Also, 240 miles of subsea export cables take the power generated from Hornsea 2 to the shore at Horseshoe Point in Lincolnshire.
