Hornsea Wind Farm is an under-construction Round 3 wind farm located in the North Sea, 120 km from the east coast of England. The wind farm started construction in 2018. The first phase was completed in January 2021, with a capacity of 1,218 MW making it the biggest in the world on its completion. Located in the North Sea 120 km from the east coast of England, the eventual wind farm group is set to have a total capacity of around 6 gigawatts (GW).
The scheme has been divided into a number of phases. The 1.2 GW Project 1 received planning consent in 2014, the 1.4 GW Project 2 was later given planning consent in 2016. Also in 2016, a third phase was further spilled into two phases Hornsea 3 and 4, having approximate capacities of 1–2 GW and 1 GW, which increased the capacity of the developed project to a maximum of 6 GW.
The Hornsea site is part of three off the British coast found in the North Sea, around halfway between Dogger Bank Wind Farm and East Anglia Wind Farm. The Hornsea site has a total area of 4,730 square kilometers and is 38 kilometers from the land at the closest point; water depth in the zone is from 22 to 73 meters, having a tidal range of 2 to 5 meters and a typical annual wave height of 1.35 to 1.78 meters.
The surface of the seabed primarily contains sands and gravel. Back in 2011, the Danish firm Ørsted A/S, earlier DONG Energy became a partner in SMart Wind. Later in 2015, Ørsted A/S was the 100% owner of the project’s first phase, Project 1. Ørsted acquired rights to the remaining phases of the Hornsea development (2 & 3) by 2015 August. In the next year, 2016, Ørsted arrived at an agreement with the Crown Estate for the Hornsea Two and Hornsea Three phases amended plans. This is when Hornsea Three was split into two new projects and the new phases were set to be developed in the 2020s.
Current status of the Hornsea 3 and 4 project
The UK is gearing up to implement Europe’s largest wind farms and 131 other renewable energy projects. The approval comes after the wind and six tidal stream projects were approved in the latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction. A new supply of clean, homegrown energy will power millions of homes and businesses across Britain. Furthermore, the approval is elemental, as a record number of projects have received funding through the government’s most successful renewables auction to date. The sixth round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation is expected to make a fundamental difference in the nation, including implementing Europe’s largest wind farm. This makes it the biggest round ever, with significant numbers for onshore wind, solar, and tidal energy, which will power the equivalent of 11 million British homes.
Project Factsheet
Hornsea 3 and 4 project
Location: Yorkshire Coast
Capacity: 1.08GW and 2.4GW
Country: United Kingdom
Significance: Europe’s Largest Wind Farms
Project duration: 5 Years
Cost of Construction: £1.5bn
Contractors: Ørsted
The State of Affairs Regarding Europe’s Largest Wind Farms
The funding procured by the UK government for Europe’s largest wind farms, six tidal streams, projects, and other renewable energy projects is fundamental. The results marked improvement on the previous auction round in 2023, which saw zero offshore wind projects agreed upon. Furthermore, the government announced in July that the budget for this year’s renewable energy auction increased by £500m to more than £1.5bn. The record budget will help build new green infrastructure as part of the mission to deliver clean power by 2030. The Contracts for Difference scheme works by developers bidding for contracts to help deliver renewable energy projects. The scheme then provides a guaranteed price for the clean electricity they generate. This gives the industry greater certainty to invest, knowing that when electricity prices fluctuate, they will always get a set price for their projects.
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The Significance of the Auction on Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 and Hornsea 4 Offshore Windfarms
The auction results have boosted offshore wind, with nine contracts awarded. Of the nine, the auction secured funds for Europe’s largest and second-largest wind farm projects. These are the Hornsea 3 and Hornsea 4 windfarms off the Yorkshire coast. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said, “We inherited a broken energy policy, including last year’s disastrous auction round, which gave us no successful offshore wind projects. Today, we have achieved a record-setting round for enough renewable power for 11 million homes, which is essential to providing energy security to families nationwide. It is another significant step forward in our mission for clean power by 2030. It also brings Britain energy independence and lower bills for good. These results show that together, this government and the energy industry are securing investment into our country.” The 131 projects this year exceed the 92 projects delivered in the last auction round.
Projects Approved Under the Contract for Difference (CfD) Auction
This year’s auction has seen a significant rise in projects, with some of the most fundamental projects given a go-ahead. These include the largest offshore wind farm project in Europe – the Hornsea 3 project off the Yorkshire coast, being developed by Ørsted. It also entails the world’s largest floating offshore wind project to reach market, Green Volt, which is double the size of Europe’s total installed floating offshore wind capacity. Furthermore, six new tidal projects are building on the UK’s world-leading position, with just under half of the world’s operational tidal stream capacity in UK waters. Lastly, a combined 115 solar and onshore wind projects are more than the total number of projects delivered in the last auction round.
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Hornsea Wind Farm Timeline
Construction of onshore cable route
In 2016 construction of the onshore cable route began under J. Murphy & Sons. The wind farm was planned to be constructed between 2018 and 2020 and set to provide an annual production of around 4.1 terawatt-hours (TWh).
In 2018 the new wind park’s first foundation was developed by DEME Group‘s subsidiary GeoSea in January. A subsidiary company of the Belgian DEME Group, Tideway Offshore Solutions installed the export cables. The installation work was completed in December 2018, months ahead of schedule.
In 2019 Hornsea 1 started supplying power to the UK national electricity grid in February with full completion set in the first quarter of 2020. The final monopile foundation was completed in April and as of 3 May, 28 turbines out of 174 were installed.
In 2020 the construction commenced. The selected area was to the east and north of Hornsea One and the specification was set as 165 8 MW turbines offering a rated capacity of 1.4 GW.
In 2021 as of April, a third of the turbine foundations were installed and the remaining turbines are set to be fixed in the second half of the year. When operational in 2022, Hornsea Project 2 will take over from Hornsea One as the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The first turbine was installed by the end of May and on 23 June Ørsted revealed that the 16th turbine to be installed to the Hornsea Two array was the 1,000th turbine they had fixed in UK waters, fifteen years since they installed their first.
In October, Ørsted completed the installation of the Hornsea Two Offshore Substation and all 165 wind turbine foundations in the North Sea.
Ørsted first customer for SeAH Wind Limited monopile foundations
In November 2021 Ørsted revealed a multi-million-pound agreement to become the first and lead customer for SeAH Wind Limited monopile foundations made at the planned UK facility of SeAH Wind Limited. The facility is SeAH Steel Holdings (SeAH) subsidiary based in the UK.
On the multi-million-pound agreement, SeAH was to be the main supplier of monopiles for Hornsea Three offshore wind farm, producing them from a factory at Able Marine Energy Park, on the Humber. The site is capable of manufacturing the extra-large monopiles needed for the new generation of larger wind turbine designs.
SeAH expected to start manufacturing operations in 2023. At the time, the dialogue was ongoing over the final number of monopiles to be provided by SeAH’s new facility to Hornsea Three. The deal, for getting a Contract for Difference and Final Investment Decision (FID) for the wind farm, was to play a great role in triggering the manufacturing of monopiles in the UK. SeAH Wind Ltd in July 2021 got a £260 million ($351 million) FID for the Humber new factory, which will be connected with a grant from the UK government.
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Tackling Climate Change
The Minister for Energy, Clean Growth, and Climate Change, Greg Hands, stated: “Today’s multi-million-pound consensus between Ørsted and SeAH Wind for SeAH Wind Limited monopile foundations is a good example of industry cooperation and a great vote of confidence in the Humber region. The multi-million-pound agreement demonstrates the commitment to tackling climate change and supporting unlock investment in the UK as we grow back greener.”
Hornsea Three was granted permission in December 2020 and was to be Ørsted’s UK fleet offshore wind farms’ latest version with a capacity of around 2.4GW. When completed, the scheme will be able to provide clean electricity to over two million UK households. The Head of Region UK at Ørsted, Duncan Clark stated: “The Hornsea Three team has partnered extensively with SeAH Wind to help their investment decision to develop a new, globally competitive monopile foundations factory across the UK.
Hornsea 2 Wind Farm Officially Starts Producing Power
In late 2021 Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering (DEME) NV Offshore’s jack-up Sea Installer left the Port of Hull loaded with the last batch of turbine components to be installed at the 1.32 GW Hornsea Two.
The Sea Installer together with its sister vessel, Sea Challenger, transported the wind farm’s 165 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 MW turbines from Siemens Gamesa’s facilities in Hull and installed them at the project.
Days before Christmas 2021, the power started flowing from Hornsea 2 wind farm on UK’s east coast. It was to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm after full completion. The expansion of onshore wind has slowed down, but offshore is very much growing, and some huge projects are being considered and developed.
Hornsea 2 incorporated 165 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, each with a peak capacity of 8 MW. Most of the turbines had yet to be installed, but the substations for the offshore and the corresponding equipment for smoothing fluctuations had all been completed in October. The wind farm developer, Ørsted, revealed that power had started flowing from the first turbines shortly before Christmas.
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World’s largest offshore wind farm.
Having a capacity of 1,320 MW (equivalent to 1.3 million typical UK homes), Hornsea 2 overtook the neighboring Hornsea 1 to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Hornsea 1 comprised smaller but more numerous turbines, with a capacity totaling 1,218 MW.
Geotechnical survey campaign at Hornsea Three offshore wind project to begin in April, United Kingdom
Starting in April 2022, Ørsted began a geotechnical survey campaign at the Hornsea Three offshore wind project in the United Kingdom. The 90-meter-long survey vessel Connector Express commenced the survey on April 1 off the coast of East Yorkshire, and the work was expected to take roughly 70 days. The anticipated completion date was set for May 31, though the precise date depended on mobilization time, weather, and work progress.
Fugro, a Dutch multinational public company headquartered in Leidschendam, Netherlands, specializing in collecting and analyzing geological data both on land and at sea, was awarded the contract by Ørsted to conduct geotechnical site investigations at the Hornsea Three and Hornsea Four offshore wind projects.
Ørsted, a Danish multinational power company based in Fredericia, Denmark, had purchased the rights to develop the Hornsea zone, which includes four projects, from SMart Wind in 2015. SMart Wind had secured the development rights in the UK Round 3 offshore wind auction.
The development license for the 2.4 GW Hornsea Three was granted by the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on December 31, 2020.
The installation of onshore cables for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm
In November 2021 it was reported that the installation of onshore cables for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm would bee handled by VolkerFitzpatrick after being appointed by Energy behemoth Ørsted. VolkerFitzpatrick and VolkerStevin will work together to complete the project which entails the installation of 240 km of onshore cables. The cables will link the offshore wind farm to the Norwich Main National Grid Substation from its landfall in Norfolk at Weybourne.
The contract will cover the civil work necessary for the cable installation, the National Grid connection, and the cable installation itself. in addition, it will cover the restoration of the land after the HVDC cables have been installed, including planting trees and hedgerows.
Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm contribution to the British Energy Security Strategy
With a 2,852 MW capacity, Hornsea 3 will contribute significantly to the UK Government’s goal of having 50 GW of offshore wind in operation by 2030. This goal is a part of the British Energy Security Strategy.
Electricity generated from the facility will be affordable, clean, and renewable. Additionally, it will be used to power approximately 3.2 million homes in the UK.
160 kilometers is the distance separating Hornsea 3 from the Yorkshire coast. The Hornsea zone of Ørsted, which consists of Hornsea 1, 2, and 3, will have a combined capacity of more than 5GW when it is completely operational. With the capacity to generate enough affordable, green, renewable electricity to power more than five million UK homes. This will be the largest offshore wind zone in the world.
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Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm to supply sustainable energy at scale
According to Luke Bridgman, senior project director, “Hornsea 3 is also assisting the ongoing development of the UK supply chain. Additionally, it is supplying low-cost sustainable energy at scale. We will seek to share possibilities with UK suppliers and contractors to engage on this groundbreaking project. This will be through our collaborations with renowned industry experts, such as VolkerFitzpatrick.”
Richard Offord, chief executive officer of VolkerWessels UK, stated, “the team and I are thrilled that Ørsted has selected VolkerFitzpatrick. It will be assisted by VolkerStevin to install the onshore cables for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm.”
“We take pride in being able to contribute to this project our teams’ talents. This includes capabilities that have been honed over years of experience. Additionally, our reputation for effective teamwork and our ongoing support of the local community and supply chain.”
