Wind developer Ørsted announced in mid-February that the first turbine at what will become the world’s biggest offshore wind farm had been installed and had begun producing electricity.
When fully operational, Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm will be nearly double the size (1,218MW) of the current world’s largest offshore wind farm, Walney Extension, and capable of powering well over one million UK homes with renewable electricity, generated by wind.
The project is located 120km off the Yorkshire Coast and will consist of 174 Siemens Gamesa 7MW turbines. The majority of wind farm’s blades are manufactured in Hull, from where they are shipped to the Hornsea zone. The wind farm is a joint venture between Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners.
By that point, 172 out of 174 monopile foundations had been installed at the site, and turbine installation is expected to continue until late summer 2019. The electricity generated by the turbines will pass via undersea cables through one of three massive offshore substations, and the world’s first offshore reactive compensation station, all fully installed, before reaching shore at Horseshoe Point, Lincolnshire. The electricity is then transported via underground cables to the onshore substation in North Killingholme, where it connects to the UK National Grid, in order to reach well over one million homes in the UK.