Hornsea 3, 聽for which 脴rsted has now signed off the final investment decision, will have a capacity of 2.9 GW and is expected to be completed around the end of 2027 at a cost of 拢8bn.
Up to 231 wind turbines will be installed within a 696 km2 area, 160 km off the Yorkshire coast and 120 km off the Norfolk coast.聽
Hornsea 3 will be 脴rsted鈥檚 third gigawatt-scale project in the Hornsea zone following Hornsea 1 (1.2 GW) and Hornsea 2 (1.3 GW), which are already being operated out of 脴rsted鈥檚 operations and maintenance hub in Grimsby.
脴rsted鈥檚 Hornsea trio 鈥� comprising Hornsea 1, 2, and 3 鈥� will have a total capacity of more than 5GW, making it the world鈥檚 largest operating offshore wind zone.
Hornsea 3 is expected to support up to 5,000 jobs during its construction phase.
脴rsted has already announced a series of supplier contracts 鈥� including an agreement for Hornsea 3 to be the first and lead customer at SeAH Wind鈥檚 monopile factory in Teesside, underpinning the Korean company鈥檚 decision to set up a monopile factory in the UK.聽
脴rsted was awarded a contract for difference (CfD) for Hornsea 3 by the government back in July 2022, at an inflation-indexed strike price of GBP 37.35 per MWh in 2012 prices. The CfD framework permits a reduction of the awarded CfD capacity. 脴rsted will use this flexibility to submit a share of Hornsea 3鈥檚 capacity into the UK鈥檚 upcoming allocation round 6.
脴rsted said that most of the capital expenditure for Hornsea 3 was contracted ahead of recent inflationary pressures 鈥渟ecuring competitive prices from the supply chain and allowing time to work collaboratively on value creation opportunities鈥�.
All major contracts for Hornsea 3 are already in place, including an agreement with Siemens Gamesa for SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbines. 鈥淭he larger wind turbines and the synergies with Hornsea 1 and 2 lead to lower operating costs than we have seen before in our portfolio,鈥� 脴rsted said.
Mads Nipper, group president and CEO of 脴rsted, said: 鈥淏y applying our world-leading capabilities within offshore wind innovation, engineering, operations, procurement, and financing, we鈥檝e been able to mature the world鈥檚 largest offshore wind project and take final investment decision. Offshore wind is an extremely competitive global market, so we also welcome the attractive policy regime in the UK which has helped secure this investment. We look forward to constructing this landmark project, which will deliver massive amounts of green energy to UK households and businesses and will be a significant addition to the world鈥檚 largest offshore wind cluster.鈥�
Duncan Clark, head of 脴rsted UK & Ireland, added: 鈥淗ornsea 3 will be a cornerstone in achieving the UK government鈥檚 climate and clean energy targets while increasing energy independence and creating local jobs. Our decision to build Hornsea 3 is a vote of confidence in the UK market for offshore wind, as we continue to invest significantly in UK clean energy infrastructure and in the UK supply chain.鈥�
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