World's largest wind farm opens off Yorkshire - with blades made in Hull

The 1.3GW Hornsea 2 facility sits next to its smaller sibling, the 1.2 GW Hornsea One farm.Its 165 turbines were manufactured at the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull’s Alexandra Dock. Each revolution of the 81-metre blades can power an average UK home for 24 hours, Danish energy giant Orsted said.But even bigger farms are on the way - the Hornsea zone, which covers an area of the North Sea covering more than 2,000 km2, is also set to include the even larger 2.8GW Hornsea 3.The mega farms are all making major contributions towards the UK meeting a new target of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, Orsted said.

The 2.8 GW project is planned to follow Hornsea 2 having been awarded a contract for difference by the government earlier this year. Hornsea 3 is expected to be commissioned in 2027.

Duncan Clark, Head of Region UK at Ørsted, said the latest project helped improve energy security in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.He said: “The UK is truly a world leader in offshore wind and the completion of Hornsea 2 is a tremendous milestone for the offshore wind industry.

"Current global events highlight more than ever the importance of landmark renewable energy projects like Hornsea 2, helping the UK increase the security and resilience of its energy supply and drive down costs for consumers by reducing dependence on expensive fossil fuels.”

He said: “Not only will Hornsea 2 provide low cost, clean energy for millions of homes in the UK, it has also delivered thousands of high-quality jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s offshore wind supply chain.”Nearly 1,400 kilometres of subsea export cables take the power generated from Hornsea 2 to the shore at Horseshoe Point in Lincolnshire.The Government announced in April that it was ramping up the target for offshore wind by 10GW, instead of the total 40GW committed to in the manifesto.Of that up to 5GW will be produced by turbines on floating platforms out in deeper seawaters, many off the coast of Scotland and Wales.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the Government were committed to cutting approval times for new offshore wind farms from four years to one year.The 4.8 GW Dogger Bank, off Yorkshire’s coast is expected to take the title of world’s largest offshore wind farm in 2026.Official figures state that wind accounted for 24 per cent of total electricity in 2020; with offshore wind accounting for 13 per cent and onshore wind accounting for 11 per cent.

Offshore wind employed 7,200 people in the UK in 2019.

Wind speeds are dropping globally. Last month’s Met Office annual State of the Climate report said 2021 saw the second lowest speeds in more than 50 years.

It said: “The UK annual mean wind speed from 1969 to 2021 shows a downward trend, consistent with that observed globally.”