OLDER BROTHER - Danish energy company Orsted announced that the Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm has started producing the first kilowatts of electricity.
As expected, Hornsea 2 farm will be fully operational next year, becoming the largest offshore wind farm in the world, providing enough electricity for more than 1,3 million households in the UK. The Hornsea 2 project was approved in 2016. The Hornsea 1 project began commercial operations last year with 174 turbines and a capacity of 1,2 GW, providing electricity to more than a million British households.
Breaking the record of the Hornsea 1 farm with a capacity of 1,32 GW, Hornsea 2 is located off the east coast of England, 89 km from shore, and includes 165 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines. The offshore substation and reactive power compensation station were installed in October this year, allowing operator Orsted to bring Hornsea 10 into production.
When completed, Hornsea 2 will transmit wind power to shore through more than 800 km of cables, connecting to the national grid in Killingholme village. Together with Hornsea 1, the farm will supply electricity to a total of 2,3 million households. In the future, Hornsea 3 farm will produce electricity to serve 2 million households and Hornsea 4 farm is in the planning stage.
While Hornsea's wind farms are among the largest in the world, the record for largest has changed several times over the past decade. Previously, the 630 MW London Array farm that operated in 2013 broke the record of the 500 MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm. Then, in 2018, the 659 MW Walney farm set the world's largest record.
Last year, construction on the Dogger Bank wind farm began near the village of Ulrome on the English coast. The farm has the world's largest offshore wind turbine called Haliade-X, 260 m high, with a capacity of 14 MW, manufactured by GE Renewable Energy. Dogger Bank Farm has a capacity of 3,6 GW, will be the largest wind farm in the world after completion in 2026, meeting 5% of the UK's total electricity demand.
According to VnExpress