Orsted’s 1400MW Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea has started generating first power.
This milestone for the site was achieved after its offshore substation, the world’s largest offshore AC substation, and reactive compensation station were installed in late October 2021.
The project itself, located 89 km off the UK’s east coast, features 165 8MW Siemens Gamesa wind turbines and constitutes the world’s largest operating offshore wind farm, a title previously held by its sister project the 1.2GW Hornsea 1.
Together, the two projects will be capable of providing enough power for well over 2.3 million homes.
Once Hornsea 2 is completed, power will be transferred from the turbines to the National Gird via 373km of array cables, 390km of offshore and 40km of onshore export cables which terminate at the onshore substation in Killingholme.
Orsted has a further two projects in the Hornsea Zone that are also underway in development with Hornsea 3 receiving DCO approval in December 2020 and Hornsea 4 currently going through the planning process.
Hornsea 2 programme director Patrick Harnett said: “Achieving first power is an important milestone for the project and a proud moment for the whole team.
“Constructing a project of this size and scale is only possible through strong collaboration, hard work, and dedication.
“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.
“A huge well done to everyone who has worked through the pandemic to keep the project on track.’
Orsted head of region UK Duncan Clark 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.
“Reaching this milestone on Hornsea 2 is testament to the incredible skill and commitment of everyone involved.”