United Kingdom’s Hornsea Two, the world’s biggest single operational offshore wind farm that powers over 1.3 million UK homes, is anticipated to displace the 1.2 Hornsea One before the end of August, according to Electrek.
The 1.32 Hornsea Two was developed and owned by Ørsted, a Danish wind giant. It is off the east coast of England, and most of its commercially available wind turbines blade were produced at Siemens Gamesa’s factory in Hull. Impressively, it features 165 Siemens Gamesa 8 megawatt (MW) turbines.
Notably, the Hornsea Two presents the largest AC offshore substation worldwide and a Reactive Compensation Station (RCS), ensuring efficient power transmission.
The entire project is expected to be fully commissioned later this month once the final reliability tests are passed.
According to the annual report of Ørsted in 2021, “For Hornsea 2, we saw progress according to plan up until mid-December. However, the accelerating Omicron variant infection rates meant that it was not possible to man the vessels used for commissioning work according to plan.”
Ørsted will continue to expand its big offshore wind projects globally despite the challenges it faces, including but not limited to the accelerating Omicron variant infection rates. For instance, the Ørsted’s Greater Changhua 1 & 2a in Taiwan is expected to begin this year, and the 4.8 GW Dogger Bank is believed to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm by 2026.
