Hornsea 2: North Sea wind farm claims title of world’s largest

The world’s largest offshore wind farm is now fully operational, 55 miles off the coast of Yorkshire.

A city the size of Manchester could be powered by the Hornsea 2 project’s electricity production, which has the capacity to power nearly 1.3 million residences.

Just 11% of the UK’s energy mix ten years ago came from renewable sources. By 2021, offshore wind had made up the majority of the 40%.

Energy company Orsted is building a sizable wind farm, which includes Hornsea 2.

According to Patrick Harnett, programme director for the Hornsea 2 wind farm, the UK is a global leader in offshore wind. The world’s largest offshore wind farm is now fully operational, which is incredibly exciting after five years of labour.

Hornsea 2 has displaced Hornsea 1 as the “biggest” structure in the world. It encompasses a region that is around four and a half times Liverpool’s size. It’s unlikely that this title will remain for very long because there are bigger projects being built nearby in the North Sea.

From sea level to the top of each of Hornsea 2’s 165 turbines’ 81-meter-tall blades, each one is about 200 metres tall. A single revolution, according to Mr. Harnett, lasts six seconds and generates enough energy to run a home for an entire day.

11 gigawatts of renewable energy, sufficient to power roughly 12 million homes, were put into service in the UK government’s most recent auction round in July. The government has pledged to reduce the carbon footprint of power generation by 2035 as part of its Net Zero ambitions, with offshore wind playing a key role.

The present global energy crisis, which was caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has accelerated efforts to find alternatives to gas-fired power plants. There are no simple answers.

There are others who believe that considering building wind farms onshore again is necessary given the severity of the present energy crisis and the approximate five years it takes for offshore wind projects to go from planning approval to full operation.