Hornsea 2, currently the largest offshore wind farm in the North Sea, has gone online. It supplies 1.4 million households with green electricity. A milestone. But there are bigger plans.
Hornsea 2 is expected to supply 1.4 million homes with green electricity. (Source: manufacturer)
- Ørsted, which claims to be the world market leader for offshore wind energy, announces the commissioning of the Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm.
- According to the company, the wind farm with a total output of 1.3 gigawatts will help to supply around 1.4 million British households with sustainably produced electricity.
- The Dogger Bank facility under construction will exceed this performance.
That was a precision landing. By the end of August, operator Ørsted wanted to put the Hornsea 2 wind farm, located around 90 kilometers off the coast of Yorkshire in England, into operation. On August 31, the time had come. A milestone for alternative energy production.
As the operating company announces, the 165 Siemens Gamesa turbines, each with an output of 8 megawatts, started producing electricity on time. Hornsea 2 covers a total area of 462 square kilometers and is currently the largest offshore wind farm in the world. For the time being, this only applies until the construction work of Dogger Bank (3.6 gigawatts expected nominal output), also in the North Sea, is completed.
One revolution equals 24 hours of electricity
Together with the neighboring plant, Hornsee 1, which has been in operation since 2019, the total output is 2.5 gigawatts. This amount of electricity should be able to supply 2.5 million households.
Impressive: If the huge rotor blades only complete a single revolution, the installed Siemens Gamesa turbines produce as much electricity as a typical British household consumes in 24 hours, according to the company report.
The news about the commissioning of Hornsea 2 is one of the other milestones that were recently announced and are intended to help achieve the climate goals that have been set.
A mega pumped storage power plant recently went into operation in Switzerland to stabilize the European power grid. In Portugal, 12,000 floating PV modules even help to lift the water. The largest bifacial solar park in Europe was inaugurated in Greece. And the European space agency ESA wants to implement a project to promote solar power via satellite from space. More information about Hornsea 2 can be found here. We will publish more news on the subject of alternative energy generation for you here.
Note: A previous version of this article said the wind farm would power 1.4 million homes. We have amended this section and added a ‘according to the company, it is intended to help 1.4 million households (…). Another paragraph on UK household electricity consumption has been amended.
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