HORNSEA ZONE—OFFSHORE WIND FARMS IN THE NORTH SEA, UK
May 2, 2024
"We are undertaking a truly green transformation by divesting our oil and gas business and phasing out coal from our power stations worldwide" - Ørsted 1
Hornsea zone—Hornsea 1, 2, and 3, located about 80 kilometers off the British east coast will be the world’s largest offshore wind turbine zone.
Ørsted 1 (a renewable energy company, headquartered in Denmark) says, one Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbine rotation is enough to power a home for 24 hours and when this zone is fully operational, It will produce over 5 GW of renewable electricity to power more than 5 million UK homes.
Hornsea 1 and 2 wind farms' turbines stand on monopile foundations. Hornsea 3 will use 10 m diameter monopile foundations expected to be fabricated in 2026 3. The diameter of monopiles ranges from 8 m to 10 m and the length ranges from 65 m to 111 m. Each of the monopile foundation structures weighs between 800-1400 tones.
The first wind farm with a capacity of 1,218 MW is located 120 km off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea, UK. The farm’s 174 wind turbines each with a power rating of 7 megawatts, cover an area of 407 square kilometers. EEW Special Pipe Constructions GmbH was assigned to manufacture and deliver all monopile foundations for Hornsea Project 1 4. Offshore construction was started in January 2018 and in 2019 the wind farm became fully operational.
Located approximately 89 km off the Yorkshire coast, 1,386 MW, Hornsea 2 became fully operational in August 2022. Offshore site investigations were commenced in 2018. Hornsea 2 covers an area of 462 square kilometers. It comprises 165 Siemens Gamesa 8 megawatts 2 of wind turbines. Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull delivered the majority of blades. The tip of the blade is more than 200 m above sea level. DEME Offshore company transported and installed 165 monopile foundations and turbines at Hornsea Two wind farm. All the 165 foundations were transported and installed in just one year. According to Ørsted 5, about 380 km of export cables were installed on the project.
Hornsea Three will be located 160 km from the Yorkshire coast. It will have a capacity of 2,852 MW.
References:
- Ørsted, a renewable energy company (Headquartered in Denmark): develops, constructs, and operates offshore wind farms and innovative waste-to-energy technology in the UK - https://orsted.co.uk/energy-solutions/offshore-wind/our-wind-farms
- Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy: Siemens Gamesa will supply the world’s largest offshore project: Ørsted orders 165 turbines for Hornsea Two wind power plant - https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int/newsroom
- SeAH Wind (UK): Ørsted signs two ‘industry first’ monopile contracts for Hornsea 3 foundations - https://orsted.kr/en/news
- EEW Holding GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), First Monopiles for Hornsea Project 1 have left EEW SPC - https://www.deme-group.com/news
- DEME Offshore (UK) :DEME Offshore installs final foundation at Hornsea Two offshore wind farm - https://www.deme-group.com/news
