Hornsea Wind Farm

Hornsea Wind Farm
Location of Hornsea Wind Farm in North Sea
Country England, United Kingdom
Location North Sea
Coordinates 53°53′06″N 1°47′28″E / 53.885°N 1.791°E / 53.885; 1.791Coordinates: 53°53′06″N 1°47′28″E / 53.885°N 1.791°E / 53.885; 1.791
Status Planning stage
Owner(s) Dong Energy
Wind farm
Type Marine
Power generation
Nameplate capacity Project 1 : 1.2 GW
Project 2 : 1.8 GW
Website
smartwind.co.uk

Hornsea Wind Farm is a Round 3 wind farm under planning development in the North Sea off the coast of England. The wind farm is planned to have a total capacity of up to 4 GW.

The development has been split into a number of subzones. The 1.2 GW Project 1 gained planning consent in 2014; a second 1.8 GW Project 2 is currently (2016) seeking planning consent.

History

The tendering process for Round 3 offshore wind farm opportunities was begun by the Crown Estate in 2008. Bids were received in March 2009, and Zone Development Agreements signed in Dec 2009.[1] The Hornsea development zone was awarded to a joint venture (SMart Wind) of Siemens and a consortium Mainstream Power Renewals including Hochtief - the development had an estimated potential generating capacity of 4 GW.[2]

The Hornsea site was one of three off the English coast in the North Sea, roughly halfway between the other two: Dogger Bank Wind Farm and East Anglia Wind Farm.[3] The Hornsea site ('Zone 4', also known as 'Holderness' zone) had a total area of 4,730 square kilometres (1,830 sq mi), and was located 38 kilometres (24 mi) from land at the closest point; water depth in the zone was from 22 to 73 metres (72 to 240 ft), with a tidal range of 2 to 5 metres (6 ft 7 in to 16 ft 5 in), and typical annual wave height of 1.35 to 1.78 metres (4 ft 5 in to 5 ft 10 in). The surface seabed consisted primarily of sands and gravel.[4]

In 2011 Dong Energy became a partner in SMart Wind.[5] In early 2015 Dong became 100% owner of the first phase, Project 1, of the scheme.[5] Dong acquired rights to the remaining subzones of the Hornsea development (2 & 3) by Aug 2015.[6]

Hornsea Project 1

The initial scoping report for "Project One" within the Hornsea zone identified it as a subzone of 629.6 square kilometres (243.1 sq mi) in the center of the Hornsea zone, with an estimated potential wind farm of 1.2 GW, divided into two further subzones of 600 MW capacity each. The zone was to connect to an existing 400kV National Grid substation at Killingholm.[7] A variety of configurations were considered - foundations of pile jacket, monopile or gravity base; turbines from 3.6 to 8 MW rated power; with electrical power export by HVDC.[8] Later Dong Energy added the consideration to use HVAC export cables.[9] The chosen cable export was planned to make landfall at Horsehoe Point (northeast of Marshchapel, East Lindsey), then passing 40 kilometres (25 mi) west and northwest to a substation near Killingholme Power Station, North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire.[10]

Within the zone of Project 1 the primary underlying geology consisted of deposits from the Quaternary Period consisting of Bolders bank, Botney Cut and Eem formations - primarily sediments or tills - gravelley/sandy clays, overlying sediments were sands or gravels up to 2 to 3 metres (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) thick, with for sandwaves within the area varying in height by 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in). Project 1 water depths were generally 25 to 30 metres (82 to 98 ft).[11]

In 2011 Smart Wind signed lease agreements with the Crown Estate for "Heron Wind" and "Njord" areas making up the zone.[12] The zone was given provisional contract for difference renewable subsidies by the UK government in April 2014.[13] Hornsea Project 1 was given planning consent in Dec 2014.[14] The 'contract for difference' strike price was £140 per MWh.[15] In early 2015 Dong acquired all of the project, becoming 100% owner.[5]

Seabed investigation including boreholes at turbine foundation positions was completed by Fugro by April 2015.[16] In mid 2015 Dong selected Siemens Wind Power 7 MW Direct Drive with 154 metres (505 ft) rotor turbines for the project - around 174 turbines would be used for the wind farm.[17] Balfour Beatty was awarded the £25million contract to construct the onshore substation for the farm at North Killingholme in late 2015.[18]

Dong Energy committed to building the wind farm in early 2016. The expected completion date for the project was 2020.[19][20] The expected annual production is around 4 TWh. About a third of the foundations will be Suction Bucket Jackets, tested at Borkum Riffgrund.[21]

Hornsea Project 2

A scoping report for "Project Two" was published Oct 2012.[22] The subzone was expected to be developed in a number of phases, with a potential wind turbine capacity of 1.8 GW, in an area of around 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) located in the center of the Hornsea wind farm zone. Project 2 was use the same route for its electrical export cable as Project One, and to use either HVAC or HVDC with a separate onshore substation.[23] The Project 2 development was identified as being north, east or west of the Zone 1 which was located in the shallowest area of the whole Hornsea zone.[24] The design considered piled, suction pile, monopile or gravity base foundations for wind turbines of 5 to 15 MW rated power.[25]

As with Project 1 (qv) sea bed conditions and geology consisted of Quaternary period deposits, primarily sediments of sand, till and clays, with the overlying gravel or sand seabed including sandwaves, with the average water depth of 25 to 30 metres (82 to 98 ft).[26]

In 2013 SMart wind signed lease agreements with the Crown Estate for the "Optimus Wind" and "Breesea" areas making up Project 2 of Hornsea wind farm.[12] A planning application for Project 2 was submitted and accepted for examination in early 2015.[27] The planned Project 2 was located adjacent norwest of the Project 1 area, with the cable export route following that of Project 1's cable adjacent on the northward side.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Crown Estate 2010, §1.1.
  2. ↑ Fineren, Daniel; Nakanishi, Nao (8 Jan 2010), Winners of UK Round 3 offshore wind farm projects, Reuters
  3. ↑ Crown Estate 2013, p. 10.
  4. ↑ ABP mer 2009, §6.
  5. 1 2 3 "Dong takes control at Hornsea 1", renews.biz, 4 Feb 2015
  6. ↑ "Dong grabs Hornsea zone", renews.biz, 21 Aug 2015
  7. ↑ SMart Wind 2010, §1.1-1.4.
  8. ↑ SMart Wind 2010, §3.29-3.55.
  9. ↑ SMart Wind 2012, §1.2.
  10. ↑ SMart Wind 2013, §5.1.5-5.1.8, Fig 5.1.
  11. ↑ SMart Wind 2010, §5.2-5.14, §5.15-5.18.
  12. 1 2 "Hornsea duo signs on dotted line", renews.biz, 24 April 2013
  13. ↑ "UK awards contracts for 4.5GW", renews.biz, 23 Apr 2014
  14. ↑ "1.2GW Hornsea 1 green light", renews.biz, 10 Dec 2014
  15. ↑ State aid SA.38758 (2014/N), SA.38759 (2014/N), SA.38761 (2014/N), SA.38763 (2014/N) & SA.38812 (2014/N) – United Kingdom - Support for five Offshore Wind Farms: Walney, Dudgeon, Hornsea, Burbo Bank and Beatrice (PDF), European Commission, 23 July 2014, Table 2, pp.4-5
  16. ↑ "Fugro signs off at Hornsea 1", renews.biz, 23 March 2015
  17. ↑ "Siemens 1.2GW monster order", renews.biz, 3 July 2015
  18. ↑ "Balfour grabs Hornsea gig", renews.biz, 15 Dec 2015
  19. ↑ "Dong commits to Hornsea build", renews.biz, 3 Feb 2016
  20. ↑ World’s largest offshore wind farm to be built in the UK (press release), Department of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Feb 2016
  21. ↑ http://ing.dk/artikel/nyt-havmoellefundament-skal-staa-sin-proeve-i-gigantisk-havmoellepark-182016
  22. ↑ SMart Wind 2012a.
  23. ↑ SMart Wind 2012a, §1.1.1-1.1.5, §3.3.10-3.311.
  24. ↑ SMart Wind 2012a, §3.3.7.
  25. ↑ SMart Wind 2012a, §3.4.7-3.4.14.
  26. ↑ SMart Wind 2012a, §5.1.2-5.1.11.
  27. ↑ Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm (Zone 4) – Project 2 application accepted for examination (press release), Planning Inspectorate, 20 Feb 2015
  28. ↑ SMart Wind 2015.

Sources

Zone 1
Zone 2

External links

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