Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm is fully up and running

The 1.3-GW Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm off the east coast of England is now fully operational, its developer Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) announced on Wednesday.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm is located 89 kilometres (55.3 miles) from the Yorkshire shore at a site spanning over 64,000 football pitches. It features 165 wind turbines with 81-metre long blades and is capable of powering over 1.4 million UK homes, Ørsted said.

“Not only will Hornsea 2 provide low cost, clean energy for millions of homes in the UK, it has also delivered thousands of high-quality jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s offshore wind supply chain,” commented Duncan Clark, Head of Region UK at Ørsted. “We look forward to working with government and industry colleagues to continue to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind for the benefit of homes and businesses across the country.”

The new wind farm was installed next to its sister project Hornsea 1, which has been operational since late 2019. Earlier this year, Ørsted arranged the sale of a 50% stake in Hornsea 2 to a consortium comprising AXA IM Alts, a division of French insurer Axa SA (EPA:CS), and Credit Agricole Assurance, part of France’s Credit Agricole (EPA:ACA). The closing of that transaction hinges on regulatory clearance and the wind farm’s full commissioning.

Ørsted’s next assignment in the area will be to prepare for the 2.9-GW Hornsea 3 development. This summer, the Danish energy major secured a contract-for-difference for the third phase, which is set to come online in 2027.

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