An offshore windfarm on the Yorkshire coast that will dwarf the world’s largest when completed is to supply its first power to the UK electricity grid this week. The Danish developer Ørsted, which will be installing the first of 174 turbines at Hornsea One, said it was ready to step up its plans and fill the gap left by failed nuclear power schemes. The size of the project takes the burgeoning offshore wind power sector to a new scale, on a par with conventional fossil fuel-fired power stations. Hornsea One will cover 407 sq km, five times the size of the nearby city of Hull. At 1.2GW of capacity it will power 1m homes, making it about twice as powerful as today’s biggest offshore windfarm once it is completed in the second half of this year. The power station is only the first of four planned in the area, with a green light and subsidies already awarded to a second stage due for completion in the early 2020s. The first two phases will use 7MW turbines, which are taller than London’s Gherkin building. But the latter stages of the Hornsea development could use even more powerful, 10MW-plus turbines. Bigger turbines will capture more of the energy from the wind and should lower costs by reducing the number of foundations and amount of cabling firms need to put into the water. Offshore windfarms could help ministers fill the low carbon power gap created by Hitachi and Toshiba scrapping nuclear plants, the executive suggested. “If nuclear should play less of a role than expected, I believe offshore wind can step up,” he said. New nuclear projects in Europe had been “dramatically delayed and over budget”, he added, in comparison to “the strong track record for delivering offshore [wind]”.
Guardian 11th Feb 2019 read more »
An offshore wind specialist has taken premises at the Port of Dundee as it unveiled plans to double its number of staff to 30 by the end of this year. Mark Robson, managing director of Coast Renewables, said offshore wind had the potential to transform the City.
Energy Voice 12th Feb 2019 read more »
Dundee Courier 12th Feb 2019 read more »
