Environment

World's biggest offshore wind farm gets go ahead

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The Hornsea Project Two is located about 89 km (55 mi) off the UK coast and will cover an area of more than 480 sq km (185 sq mi) in the North Sea
If all three Hornsea sites were to be completed, Dong says they would cover an area twice the size of greater London and have a capacity of about 4 GW
The windfarm will comprise up to 300 turbines with a total capacity of up to 1.8 GW
The Hornsea Project Two is located about 89 km (55 mi) off the UK coast and will cover an area of more than 480 sq km (185 sq mi) in the North Sea
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The UK Secretary of State for Energy has given approval for what will be the biggest offshore windfarm in the world. Hornsea Project Two is the second site of the Hornsea offshore project in the UK, and will comprise up to 300 turbines with a total capacity of up to 1.8 GW.

"Offshore wind is already on course to meet 10 percent of the UK's electricity demand by 2020," says Huub den Rooijen, director of energy, minerals and infrastructure at the UK's Crown Estate. "Major developments of Hornsea Project Two's scale will pave the way for its continued growth alongside driving down costs, creating high value jobs, and supporting the UK's transition to a low-carbon energy supply."

Hornsea Project Two is being developed by SMartWind, which was acquired by Denmark's DONG Energy from Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services in 2015. The site is located about 89 km (55 mi) off the eastern UK coast and will have the potential to power around 1.6 million homes.

There are two other sites as part of the Hornsea offshore project, to which SMartWind also holds the rights. Work on delivering the 1.2-GW capacity Hornsea Project One, which itself was set to become the world's largest offshore windfarm and the first to exceed 1 GW, is already underway. A decision has yet to be made on whether to develop Project Three.

If all three Hornsea sites were to be completed, Dong says they would cover an area twice the size of greater London and have a capacity of about 4 GW

If all three Hornsea sites were to be completed, Dong says they would cover an area twice the size of Greater London and have a capacity of about 4 GW. This, it says, would be enough to supply around four million British homes.

The Development Consent Order (DCO) for Hornsea Project Two was approved by Greg Clark MP and covers the entire project, including the turbines, foundations, offshore and onshore substations, array cables and export cables. The approval was announced today.

Source: Dong Energy, SMart Wind

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7 comments
Gizmowiz
Eventually the winds will be smothered from millions of windmills. Causing the winds to go somewhere else?
Myron J. Poltroonian
Sure looks "Peaceful", don't it? With all that calm water pictured, what could possibly go wrong? Anybody ever been on the North Sea during a good old fashioned, rip roaring winter storm? What could possibly go wrong, indeed.
DavidOldham
If this is such a good idea why the delay in developing the next section.....didn't Spain practically go broke doing this?
aksdad
I didn't realize UK residents were so wealthy that they can afford the most expensive power generation technology--twice as much as expensive nuclear power and 3 to 4 times as much as power from natural gas plants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source
Oh wait, they aren't. Their GDP per capita is just 74% of what it is in the U.S. Maybe paying for really expensive electricity is one of the reasons why.
Brian M
@askdad Its called investment, that's got nothing do with GDP (provided you find the people to lend you the money!). Then it comes down to the return on the investment which is of course the big question!
With renewables diversity is the key, if the wind don't blow then you are - well left in the dark! The UK government needs to be investing in predictable renewables such as tidal barriers, and the UK has a lot of potential site fors that, but schemes are block by NIMBY's (Not in my back yard) and people protecting the lesser squartwort worms environment - If you haven't heard of the species yet , it will be found somewhere by someone wanting to block progress....
Readout Noise
@askad And maybe taking the attitude that "fossil fuels are cheap now, let's worry about climate change later" is part of the reason why the US has built higher GDP - in the short term.
As for nuclear, the UK is heavily invested already...and surely you've heard of what they are planning at Hinckley Point?
notfromthisplanet
I think it also helps to have some other EU friends on your side when the negotiating for EU market access gets in gear.....and I think they just got the Danes on their side.