A facility branded by Danish energy company Orsted as the “largest offshore wind farm in the world” is now fully operational, and its 165 turbines will provide electricity to more than 1.4 million U.K. homes.
The size of Hornsea 2, which is located around 89 kilometers off the coast of Yorkshire, England, is substantial.
According to Orsted, it has a capacity of more than 1.3 gigawatts and covers an area of 462 square kilometers, which is larger than New York City. Hornsea 2 employs Siemens Gamesa turbines with 81-meter-long blades, or more than 265 feet.
Hornsea 2 is close to the Hornsea 1 project and is meant to generate renewable energy from the North Sea’s high winds.
The project encompasses an area of 462 square kilometers, which is comparable to 64,000 football fields. 165 wind turbines manufactured by Siemens Gamesa are housed in this expansive region, which is about half the size of New York City.
They have covered enormous turbines, some of which the business can produce with blades that are recyclable. However, the 8MW turbines have been employed for this project. According to the press announcement, each turbine blade is 265 feet (81 m) long, and its tip is 656 feet (200 m) above sea level.
One rotation of the turbine can power an average U.K. house for 24 hours, and the total project will help provide clean and renewable energy to approximately 1.4 million U.K. homes. The power generated at Hornsea will be sent to Horseshoe Point in Lincolnshire through a 390-mile (242-kilometer) undersea cable.
The U.K. has a mature offshore wind industry that is expected to grow in the next years, with officials targeting 50 GW of capacity by 2030.
Prior to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union in January 2020, the EU had set a 300 GW target for offshore wind by the middle of this century.
The United States has a long way to go to catch up with Europe on the other side of the Atlantic. The 30 megawatt Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, just began commercial operations in late 2016.
In November 2021, however, construction was launched on a project termed the “first commercial-scale offshore wind farm” in the United States.
