DONG Makes FID on Largest Offshore Wind Farm
DONG Energy has made a final investment decision to build the giant Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm in the U.K. With a capacity of 1.2 gigawatt (GW), Hornsea will be the world’s first offshore wind farm to exceed 1,000MW in capacity and by a large margin become the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
Hornsea will surpass Walney Extension, which had a final investment decision in October 2015, as the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Walney Extension will have a capacity of 660MW, so Hornsea is almost double the size.
The wind farm is expected to be fully commissioned in 2020, and it will be able to meet the electricity needs of well over one million U.K. homes.
“We are excited about building this huge wind farm and pushing the boundaries of the offshore wind industry,” said Henrik Poulsen, CEO of DONG Energy. “Hornsea together with Race Bank, Westermost Rough and Lincs will make up a giant production area off the British east coast, supporting our efforts to deliver green and independent energy to society.”
Hornsea was granted a Final Investment Decision Enabling contract (Contract for Difference) by the U.K. government in April 2014 and will receive a fixed tariff for the first 15 years of production.
Hornsea will be the final stage towards DONG Energy delivering on its strategic target of installing 6.5 GW of offshore wind by 2020. By 2020, the company aims to have quadrupled our installed capacity compared with 2012. This capacity would equate to the annual electricity consumption of 16 million Europeans.
“Reaching our strategic target is important, as volume is required to reduce the cost of a new technology,” said Poulsen. “It is vital in order to make all players in the value chain advance up the learning curve. As such Hornsea will be another major step in our ongoing efforts to significantly reduce the cost of electricity for offshore wind.”
Hornsea is located 120km off the Yorkshire coast and covers approximately 407 square kilometers. DONG Energy has chosen the Siemens 7.0MW wind turbine for Hornsea.
DONG Energy is the sole owner of Hornsea after acquiring the 66.66 percent ownership share from Smart Wind in February 2015. DONG Energy also has the project rights to the Hornsea Project Two and Three, which have the potential of further three GW offshore wind power capacity in total.
DONG Energy has built more offshore wind farms than any other company worldwide, over one third of the total offshore wind capacity in the market. This capacity is equivalent to an ability to supply five million Europeans with clean electricity.
The following DONG windfarms became operation in 2014 and 2015:
2014: West of Duddon Sands
2015: Borkum Riffgrund 1
2015: Westermost Rough
2016: Gode Wind 1 and 2