UK governmental agencies, conservation organisations and companies have responded positively to Ørsted’s application to reduce the number of offshore substations and increase the size of the topsides on the Hornsea Project Two offshore wind project.
Following the review, the application received no objections from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, The Crown Estate, National Federation of Fishermen Organisation, Trinity House, Natural England, Historic England, and Anglian Water.
In February 2018, Optimus Wind Limited and Breesea Limited sent the application on behalf of Ørsted to the UK’s Planning Inspectorate to reduce the maximum number of offshore HVAC collector substations on the Hornsea Two from six to three.
The width of the offshore substations would be increased from up to 60 metres to up to 90 metres, and the length from up to 60 metres to up to 70 metres. The maximum area would be increased from up to 3,600 square metres to up to 6,300 square metres.
The changes would not result in an increase in the footprint of the supporting structures’ impact on the seabed, and the number of legs and piles on the jacket foundations supporting the topsides will remain the same as allowed in the existing Development Consent Order (DCO), according to the developer.
In September 2017, the Hornsea Project Two received a Contract for Difference for 1,386MW. The wind farm will feature Siemens Gamesa 8MW turbines installed some 89 kilometres from the Yorkshire coast.
Once operational in 2022, it will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, leapfrogging the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One, also being developed by Ørsted. Similarly to the Hornsea Project One, the electricity generated on Hornsea Project Two will be collected and delivered to the grid via three offshore collector substations and one reactive compensation substation.