Dong Energy to build world’s largest wind farm

Dong Energy will build the giant Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm, capable of powering well over 1 million UK homes, off the Yorkshire coast after taking a final investment decision today.

With a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW), Hornsea Project One will be the world’s first offshore wind farm to exceed 1 GW in capacity and will become – by a considerable margin – the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

It will be located 120 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast – further than the distance from Leeds to Liverpool. The project has the potential to create around 2,000 jobs during its construction phase with up to 300 additional jobs supported directly and indirectly throughout its operational phase.

Hornsea Project One will span a huge area of approximately 407 square kilometres, which is over five times the size of the city of Hull. The offshore wind farm will use 7 megawatt (MW) wind turbines, with each one 190 metres tall – larger than the Gherkin building in London.

Siemens has been named preferred supplier for the 7 MW wind turbines and the new Siemens turbine production facilities in Hull will support the project. A EUR25 million contract has also been awarded to UK infrastructure company Balfour Beatty for the construction of the onshore substation, underlining Dong Energy’s positive impact on the UK supply chain.

As part of the project, Dong Energy will construct the longest ever offshore wind farm high voltage AC electrical system in the world. It will take the clean electricity produced by the wind turbines, transmit it to shore and then feed it into the national grid. This system includes more than 900 kilometres of cables, enough to stretch from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Hornsea Project One is expected to be fully commissioned in 2020.