Ørsted's Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm generates 1st power

Ørsted A/S' Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm in the U.K. North Sea delivered its first power, in preparation for its anticipated operational date in 2022, the Danish company announced Dec. 20.

"From here, we have the finishing line in sight as we install the remaining turbines and continue testing, commissioning, and energizing our wind farm into the new year," said Patrick Harnett, program director for Hornsea 2.

The facility, located 89 kilometers off the U.K.'s east coast, will host 165 8-MW Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA wind turbines. Upon completion, Hornsea 2 will generate 1.32 GW of electricity and become the world's largest operating offshore wind farm, surpassing sibling project Hornsea 1. The 1.2-GW Hornsea 1 facility was completed in October 2019.

Together, the two projects will be capable of providing enough power for more than 2.3 million homes, Ørsted said in a news release.

The milestone was achieved after Ørsted installed Hornsea 2's offshore substation and reactive compensation station in late October. When fully complete, the project's power will be transferred through 373 kilometers of array cables to power stations, reaching the national grid via a combination of offshore and onshore export cables.

The company is also working on another two projects in the Hornsea Zone, namely Hornsea 3, which received a development consent order in December 2020, and Hornsea 4, which is going through the planning process.

Collectively, the Hornsea projects are expected to make a significant contribution to the U.K. government's target of the country being net-zero by 2050.