Orsted and fabricator SeAH Wind have discontinued foundation fabrication for the developer’s 2900MW Hornsea 3 wind farm at the Korean company’s flagship £900m Teesside factory in the UK.
The development was revealed exclusively over a week ago in the 5 February edition of subscriber-only reNEWS.
The Danish giant and Asian steel specialist “mutually agreed to discontinue monopile production” in a decision that “reflects a shared assessment of factory readiness against the programme requirements” for the wind farm, according to a joint statement issued to reNEWS.
SeAH Wind is understood to have run into ramp-up difficulties at the plant after announcing last summer it had cut first steel on what was the factory’s maiden order for an undisclosed portion of 197 Hornsea 3 foundations.
Hornsea 3’s other confirmed foundations supplier, Spanish fabricator Haizea Wind, has been rolling out bases from its Bilbao facility since last summer with the first batch arriving in the UK earlier this week.
Orsted, which owns the wind farm alongside global asset manager Apollo, has placed Hornsea 3 work in several other locations, including Dajin in China and EEW and Steelwind in Germany.
The timeline for Hornsea 3, which includes Cadeler starting foundation installation shortly and completion of the park by the end 2027, “remains protected and uncompromised” by the fabrication decision, the joint statement added.
The Orsted-SeAH Wind statement said discontinuing work allows the fabricator “to focus on the safe and reliable delivery of its secured order backlog through to 2027, while continuing to progress a strong pipeline of opportunities beyond that period”.
“This underlines confidence in SeAH Wind’s technical capability, manufacturing scale, and long-term role in the UK and European offshore wind supply chain,” the statement added.
The Teesside factory is due to produce monopiles for RWE’s AR7-winning 3.1GW Norfolk Vanguard.
A SeAH Wind spokesperson said: “SeAH Wind remains fully committed to establishing a best-in-class UK manufacturing facility and to supporting the delivery of offshore wind projects at scale as the market continues to grow.”