Powering over 1.4 million homes with green energy

Hornsea 2, located in the North Sea next to its sister project Hornsea 1, generates enough green energy to power over 1.4 million UK homes. As the world’s largest offshore wind farm, it covers an area of 462 square kilometres (178 square miles).

 

 

About the project


Hornsea 2 became fully operational in August 2022 and is our 12th wind farm in the UK. It is operated and maintained from our East Coast Hub in Grimsby which supports a workforce of over 600 people.

Discover how offshore wind is transforming coastal communities

The project covers an area of 462 square kilometres (178 square miles), equal to 31 times the size of Lake Windermere. The 165 Siemens Gamesa 8MW wind turbines deliver 20 percent more annual output than those used for Hornsea 1. One turbine rotation generates enough electricity to power a home for 24 hours.

Hornsea 2 location
Project map for Hornsea 2
The majority of blades were delivered from the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull. Each turbine blade is 81m long and the blade tip is more than 200m above sea level.

Approximately 380 km of export cables were installed on the project. This is equivalent to the distance between Grimsby and Amsterdam. 

Read the blog: What does it take to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm?
 
Watch the Hornsea 2 size and scale film.

Images of Hornsea 2

Scroll to view images from our Hornsea 2 photography exhibition, Building the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.  
Download the event guidebook here.
Ørsted’s 1000th turbine installed in UK waters on Hornsea 2, June 2021.
Image showing monopiles being offloaded from the delivery vessel for storage, before being transferred to the installation vessel.
Image showing offshore wind farm blades at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s blade manufacturing facility in Hull
In this photo, 66 kilometres of offshore export cable are seen being precisely loaded on the NKT Victoria vessel
Image showing challenging weather conditions and rough seas during the construction of Hornsea 2
Image showing Ørsted’s Wind of Hope Service Operations Vessel in the field.

Hornsea 2 supporting communities


East Coast Community Benefit Fund 

Our community grants help support local groups and organisations in the coastal regions where we construct and operate our offshore wind farms. Our three Community Benefit Funds — Burbo Bank Extension Community Fund, East Coast Community Fund and Walney Extension Community Fund — have so far awarded over £8 million to hundreds of local social and environmental projects along the East and West coasts.

Supporting projects in coastal areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk: 

Credit: Cruse Bereavement Care
Photo credit: Cruse Bereavement Care

The East Coast Community Fund is linked to the Hornsea projects and Racebank offshore wind farm and has £465,000 available to local organisations each year. Since the fund was launched in 2016, over £2 million has been awarded to 204 projects in coastal areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk.

Our funds are administered by independent grant-making charity GrantScape, with decision-making supported by local Advisory Groups made up of community specialists who benefit from a strong and deep understanding of the local community and environment.

Discover more about our Community Benefits Funds 

We’re focused on engaging with communities
Here you can read our Hornsea 2 community newsletters published during project construction:

 

 

Hornsea 2 SGRE 8.4MW turbine
UK MEDIA RELATIONS

Hornsea 2 media contact

Charli Parkin
UK Media Relations Manager

Tel: +44 (0) 7917 766 070
cpark@orsted.com

Illustration turbine

The Expert Take

What does it take to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm?

Patrick Harnett, UK Vice President and Programme Director, discusses what it took to achieve the Herculean task of building Hornsea 2 in the midst of a global pandemic.