Giant Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm wins consent

DONG Energy has welcomed the decision of the Secretary of State for Business and Energy Greg Clark to grant development consent for the Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm, to be located 89 km off the Yorkshire coast. Hornsea Project Two will have a capacity of up to 1.8 GW and will consist of up to 300 turbines. It could meet the electricity needs of approximately 1.6 million UK homes per year, says DONG.

The project is being developed by SMart Wind, owned by DONG Energy; the company is already developing the 1.2 GW Hornsea Project One. The Development Consent Order for Project Two covers the entire project including the turbines, foundations, offshore and onshore substations, array cables and export cables.

Huub den Rooijen, Director of Energy, Minerals and Infrastructure at seabed owner the Crown Estate, said: ‘Offshore wind is already on course to meet 10% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2020. Major developments of Hornsea Project Two’s scale will pave the way for its continued growth alongside driving down costs, creating high value jobs, and supporting the UK’s transition to a low carbon energy supply.’

• The oldest wind farm in Wales, Rhyd-y-Groes, has received planning consent from Anglesey County Council to be repowered with new turbines. Owned by TPG Wind, a joint venture between E.ON and Eurus Energy and located at the north-west tip of Anglesey, the current 24-turbine site has been generating power for 24 years. Repowering plans involve replacing the current 24 turbines with 11 new turbines to increase total generating capacity to 9.9 MW.

See also pages 18–20 for more information on UK wind farms.