Ørsted Applies for Hornsea Four Development Consent

Ørsted has submitted a Development Consent Order (DCO) application for its Hornsea Four offshore wind project to the UK Planning Inspectorate.

The developer informed on 14 October that it had filed the DCO application on 29 September, after completing pre-application consultation.

Ørsted started introducing early-stage proposals for the Hornsea Four offshore wind farm at local information events organized in 2018. The following year, the company started with formal consultations on its proposal to develop Hornsea Four approximately 69 kilometres off the Yorkshire Coast.

The developer now said it had received a considerable amount of feedback throughout the pre-application consultation period, including comments as part of the formal phase two consultation (in August-September 2019), three additional rounds of targeted consultation, one round of non-statutory targeted consultation, and ongoing feedback from landowners, statutory consultees, and other interested parties. 

“We aimed to ensure our final proposal responds to the concerns and wishes of the local community, statutory consultees and stakeholders with an interest in the development of Hornsea Four”, the company stated on 14 October.

According to earlier information, Hornsea Four is planned to consist of up to 180 turbines.

Ørsted acquired the rights to develop the Hornsea zone in 2015 from SMart Wind, which was originally awarded the development rights in the UK Round 3 offshore wind auction.

In the Hornsea zone, Ørsted has already built and put into operation the 1.2 GW Hornsea One offshore wind farm, while the 1.4 GW Hornsea Two is currently under construction with majority of its turbines in place.

At the beginning of this year, Hornsea Three received a Development Consent Order (DCO).