World’s largest offshore windfarm receives planning go-ahead

Laura Hodgetts

The world’s largest offshore wind farm, the Hornsea Project Two offshore windfarm located 89 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast, has today received development consent from Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark.

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When complete, Hornsea Project Two will have a capacity of up to 1.8 gigawatts (GW) and will consist of up to 300 turbines. It could meet the electricity needs of approximately 1.6million UK homes per year.

Hornsea Project Two is being developed by SMartWind, owned by DONG Energy.

The Development Consent Order (DCO) was approved by Greg Clark MP at the recommendation of the Planning Inspectorate, and covers the entire project including the turbines, foundations, offshore and onshore substations, array cables and export cables.

Burbo Offshore Wind Farm

Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy’s UK Country Chairman, said: ‘Development consent for Hornsea Project Two is very welcome. We have already invested £6billion in the UK, and Hornsea Project Two provides us with another exciting development opportunity in offshore wind.

‘Hornsea Project Two is a huge potential infrastructure project which could provide enough green energy to power 1.6 million UK homes. A project of this size will help in our efforts to continue reducing the cost of electricity from offshore wind and shows our commitment to investing in the UK.’

Huub den Rooijen, head of offshore wind at The Crown Estate, said: ‘Offshore wind is already on course to meet 10% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2020. 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.’

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: ‘The UK’s offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system.

‘Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we’re determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country.’

He added: ‘The Government is making £730million of financial support available for renewable electricity generation this Parliament, sending a clear signal that the UK is open for business.

‘We expect 10GW of offshore wind installed by the end of this decade and could see up to 10GW of new offshore wind in the 2020s as costs come down.’

DONG Energy will now review the details of the DCO.

Located approximately 89km off the Yorkshire coast, the windfarm will comprise up to 300 wind turbines and will connect to the grid at North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire.

The decision was made on the merits of the scheme based on a report and recommendation from the Planning Inspectorate, which is being published today.