December 30, 2021
The Hornsea 2 wind farm, located approximately 89 kilometres off the east coast of England, has generated its first power, according to Ørsted, the Danish green energy firm behind the project.
When it goes fully operational in 2022, Hornsea 2 will become the “world’s biggest offshore wind farm”, say Ørsted, overtaking the adjacent Hornsea 1, its sister project. Hornsea 2 consists of 165 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW turbines covering 462 square kilometres, with a total generating capacity of 1.32 GW. The company says that the farm’s wind energy will be able to power over 1.3 million homes in the UK, rising to 2.3 million when combined with the output from Hornsea 1, which came online in 2020.
The farm, approved for construction in 2016, generated its first power on December 18th, made possible by the installation of its offshore substation (OSS) – the world’s largest – and reactive compensation station (RCS) in late October 2021. Ørsted is now working to prepare Hornsea 2 for its full operational launch next year, which is delayed slightly due to the pandemic. Patrick Harnett, senior programme director for Hornsea 2, said: “From here, we have the finishing line in sight as we install the remaining turbines and continue testing, commissioning, and energising our wind farm into the new year.”
When operational, power will be transferred from the turbines to the OSS and RCS via 373 km of array cables, then to the English mainland by 390 km of offshore and 40 km of onshore export cables, making landfall at Horseshoe Point in Lincolnshire, and terminating at an onshore substation in Killingholme. The total Hornsea site will consist of four parts when complete. Hornsea 3 received a Development Consent Order in December 2020, and Hornsea 4 is currently going through the planning process. As well as the largest by output, Hornsea will also be further from the shore than any other large-scale wind farm in the world.
An early leader in the development of offshore wind energy infrastructure, Danish company Ørsted was named as the world’s most sustainable energy company in Corporate Knights’ 2021 index of the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. Duncan Clark, the company’s Head of Region for the UK, said: “Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the world today, and we believe that the solution lies in deploying renewable energy resources on a much larger scale than anything we have seen so far. The UK is the global leader in offshore wind, and our Hornsea projects have helped pave the way for the next generation of offshore wind farms.” According to the company, the Hornsea farms will contribute significantly to helping the UK government achieve its goal of ending fossil fuel generation by 2035, and net-zero emissions by 2050. The UK has among the most developed wind energy sectors globally, with a predicted 40 GW of capacity by 2030. By comparison, the United States has an ambition of 30 GW by the same year, and the European Union is targeting 300 GW by 2050.
