Ørsted Contracts Havfram for Hornsea Three Offshore Wind Turbine Installation

March 21, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

Ørsted has selected Havfram Wind for the installation of wind turbines at its Hornsea Three offshore wind farm in the UK. The Norwegian company will be using one of its newly built jack-ups for the work, which is scheduled to start in autumn 2026.

The 2,852 MW Hornsea Three – which, according to Ørsted, is the world’s single biggest offshore wind farm – will be built more than 120 kilometres off the north Norfolk coast and was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) in July 2022.

The offshore wind farm will comprise up to 231 wind turbines, with the developer yet to announce the model to be used. The contracts for the supply of the project’s XXL monopiles and their installation were awarded last year to Haizea Wind Group and Cadeler, respectively.

For the installation of wind turbines, Havfram said it would deploy one of its newly built NG20000X jack-up wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs) with a 3,250-tonne crane.

Under an agreement with the CIMC-Raffles shipyard, Havfram could build up to four vessels of this type and the first one is now under construction, following the execution of a shipbuilding contract with CIMC-Raffles in China at the end of last year.

For Ørsted, this is the first contract the offshore wind developer signed with Havfram, which changed its name from Ocean Installer in 2020 as part of its commitment to grow its offshore wind business.

“Delivering an offshore wind farm of the size and scale of Hornsea 3 requires the development of strong, collaborative relationships with our contractor partners and the realisation of new supply chain capacity. We are therefore very excited to sign our first contract with Havfram, bringing a new cutting-edge vessel to the offshore wind market and taking the positive working relationship we have created during the procurement phase into execution”, said Patrick Harnett, Ørsted’s Vice President for Execution Programmes.

“The different construction phases of the Hornsea offshore wind development zone all represent record-breaking wind projects. The contribution of Havfram Wind to one of these giant projects proves our growing position in the market and the trust given to us by Ørsted”, said Even Larsen, CEO Havfram Wind.

Ørsted has already built and put into operation the 1.2 GW Hornsea One and the 1.3 GW Hornsea Two offshore wind farms, the world’s biggest operational offshore wind farms.

Besides these two and the 2.9 GW Hornsea Three, the developer has also applied for development consent for a 2.6 GW offshore wind farm in the Hornsea Zone, Hornsea Four.