‘Largest wind farm in the world’ gets underway

DONG Energy has made further progress on its ambitious Hornsea zone offshore wind development.

The renewables specialist has reached agreement with The Crown Estate for project-specific leases to cover three projects off the Humber coast, adding to its existing commitment to the build the largest wind farm in the world.

It comes one month after it confirmed the 1.2 gigawatts (GW) Hornsea Project One development would go ahead, as part of a £6bn investment in the Humber over a seven-year period to 2019.

The latest deal is a step towards three more developments. Hornsea Project Two will have a capacity of up to 1.8 GW. A decision on planning consent is expected later this year.

A consultation will soon be launched on a 1.2 GW-capacity Hornsea Project Three, while Hornsea Project Four could add another 1 GW to the area.

Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy’s UK Country Chairman, said: “We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with The Crown Estate for the Hornsea projects, which highlights once again our absolute commitment to the UK offshore wind market.

“Having just confirmed that we are building Hornsea Project One – the world’s biggest offshore wind farm – we see these projects as a vital part of our post-2020 pipeline.”

Last summer, DONG Energy’s acquisition of Hornsea Projects Two and Three from SMart Wind consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services gave it exclusive control of the zones.

The Crown Estate, which also announced project-specific agreements for lease with Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall, said the deals were an important step to offshore wind becoming “a large-scale, affordable and reliable power source”.