This week, offshore wind power developer Ørsted have conducted a cable pull in at Lincolnshire’s Horseshoe Point beach.
The operation saw 2.4km of a total 39 km of cable being installed towards the landfall in preparation for Ørsted’s latest and largest offshore wind farm.
Currently under construction and anticipated to be complete in 2022, Hornsea Two will be the biggest and best value offshore wind farm in the world. With its 165 8 MW wind turbines, covering a distance of 462 km2, Hornsea Two will generate 1.4 GW of clean power, enough to supply over 1.3 million homes in the UK with green energy.
Patrick Harnett, Ørsted Programme Director for Hornsea Two said: “These recent months have set challenges in our way that no one could have expected. Our teams have worked safely and tirelessly to overcome these and deliver a fantastic result with the commencement of our offshore construction works.
“Thanks to the dedication of our contracted staff, once the cable connection works at Horseshoe Point have been completed next year, the ground will be reinstated and the beach will look exactly as it did before.”
After undergoing rigorous consenting applications, the project team at Horseshoe Point arranged for the cable laying vessel Ndurance, owned and operated by Netherlands-based contractor Boskalis, to position itself on location, 2.5km away from the cable’s connection point.
Steve Marshall, Boskalis Project Director for Hornsea Two said: “Boskalis are delighted to be working with Ørsted again on this prestigious project following on from the success of similarly collaborative works carried out on the Hornsea One project.
“Boskalis have a comprehensive and world leading track record in delivering nearshore and landfall operations whilst always maintaining a key focus to eliminate or minimise any environmental and surrounding impact, through the great work of our team and by utilising our in-house equipment we have successfully achieved this.
“The experience of the team has recently been exemplified in the way that the ‘One Team’ philosophy has risen and overcome challenges that would not typically be encountered during these types of works to deliver outstanding results. We look forward to continuing the great working relationship with Ørsted and contributing to the ongoing overall success of this project.”
Once power has been generated by the wind turbines, it will travel via cable to the site’s offshore substation, on to its reactive compensation station and then to its onshore substation via the landfall location before reaching the National Grid. A total 165 km of cable will be utilised to connect the site to its onshore substation which is further than the distance from Newcastle to Leeds.
Hornsea Two’s main construction site is located at Humberside Airport, where a disused building was repurposed for the project. When the site becomes operational, technicians will be based at the world’s largest operations and maintenance facility for offshore wind, the East Coast Hub in Grimsby where over 80% of personnel live locally.
