Construction has begun on what will become on the worlds largest offshore windfarm, Hornsea Project One- which will be the first to exceed 1GW in capacity. Power company Ørsted, formerly DONG Energy, has two operational wind farms off the east coast; Westermost Rough and Lincs. Race Bank, nearing the end of construction, will be officially opened later this year. Hornsea Project One and Two will follow, and combined will generate enough clean electricity for over 2.3 million UK home.
The Hornsea Project One, will be completed 120km off the Yorkshire coast, covering an area of approximately 407km2. When completed in 2020, the project will provide enough power for over 1 million homes.
The UK is the company’s largest market and it currently.
At present, construction involves the installation of the project’s 174 monopiles essentially large cylindrical steel tubes which extend into the seabed and serve as anchors for the turbines. Construction is currently being predominantly carried out by two ships- Innovation, a jack-up vessel which is installing the monopiles and; A2Sea’s vessel Sea Installer- which is set to join the project this March, installing the 7 megawatt (MW), 190m (623ft) tall wind turbines and turbine blades. The works at the substation site in North Killingholme are nearing completion and we have successfully moved and installed all the Supergrid transformers, reactors and electrical components that will operate the substation. These components will be undergoing electrical testing and commissioning over the next few months.”
More to come…..
Ørsted is setting itself ambitious targets. Once Hornsea Project One is completed the company wants to construct another two windfarms. Hornsea Project Two will power up to 1.6 million homes, whilst Hornsea Project Three will follow shortly after.
Duncan Clark, programme director of the project is enthusiastic about the benefits Hornsea Project One, and eventually Two and Three, will bring:
“After years of planning it is fantastic to see the initial stages of offshore construction begin. My thanks to the teams working day and night on this significant milestone.”
“Onshore, we are continuing to construct the East Coast Hub which will serve as an operations and maintenance base for our existing wind farms in the area and both Hornsea Project One, and Project Two which we took a final investment decision on last year. These wind farms will not only greatly contribute to the UK’s goal of decarbonising our energy system, they are also bringing jobs and investment to Grimsby and the North East.”