The first of what will be 174 800-ton monopiles has been installed at the site 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast of Yorkshire, UK. They will support the 174 Siemens 7.0MW turbines.
The wind farm is being developed by Ørsted, (formerly DONG Energy), a power company based in Fredericia, Denmark. Ørsted is the largest energy company in Denmark. The company adopted its current name on 6 November 2017.
Expected to be operational in 2020, Hornsea Project One will produce enough power for over one million homes. The total combined 1.2 gigawatts of capacity will be about as much as the largest nuclear reactors.
According to Ørsted, the installation is being carried out by GeoSea’s installation vessel, Innovation. It will carry up to 4 monopiles at a time, each one is 65 meters (213 feet) long, weighs around 800 tons and has a diameter of 8.1 meters (27 feet)
Innovation is a self-elevating vessel which can extend four legs down to the ocean floor and jack itself up to act as a stationary offshore installation platform. The vessel has a capacity of 31,400 tons and can accommodate 100 people onboard.
Innovation will also be used to install some of the transition pieces in the project. Next month, Innovation will be joined by A2Sea’s vessel Sea Installer to continue with transition piece installation.
According to Ørsted, an 8MW turbine – the MH1 by Vestas – generates enough electricity in one revolution of the turbine blades to power a house for 29 hours. However, the Siemens SWT-7.0-54 turbine will generate 25 hours of electricity with a single rotation. The individual blades are 75 meters (246 feet) long and the total area covered when the blades spin is, 18,600m2 (4.6 acres).
In a press release, Duncan Clark, program director for the project, said, “After years of planning it is fantastic to see the initial stages of offshore construction begin. My thanks to the teams working day and night on this significant milestone.”
“Onshore, we are continuing to construct the East Coast Hub which will serve as an operations and maintenance base for our existing wind farms in the area and both Hornsea Project One, and Project Two which we took a final investment decision on last year. These wind farms will not only greatly contribute to the UK’s goal of decarbonizing our energy system, they are also bringing jobs and investment to Grimsby and the North East.”
Ørsted’s press release described the company as the biggest offshore wind farm developer in the world, with the UK as their largest market. They boast two operational wind farms off the nation’s east coast, Lincs and Westermost Rough. Another offshore wind farm, Race Bank, is slated to open later in 2018.
