Leading renewable energy firm Ørsted is celebrating the installation of its 1000th offshore wind turbine in UK waters.
Erected in the North Sea, off the Yorkshire coast, the landmark turbine is the 16th to be fitted for the Danish company’s Hornsea Two development.
The 165-turbine project will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm once completed next year, taking the title from its sister development Hornsea One.
Ørsted’s first involvement in the UK came in 2004 with the Barrow offshore wind farm.
Duncan Clark, head of UK for Ørsted said: “This is a significant milestone for the company, the industry and the UK’s journey to a cleaner energy system.
“The UK is the world leader in offshore wind, with the largest installed capacity and projects like Hornsea Two are helping the country to make significant strides towards the Governments legally binding net zero targets.
“The transformation we have seen since our first offshore wind installations 15 years ago is nothing short of incredible – with turbines more than doubling in size and cost of electricity generated dropping by more than half.
“When Hornsea Two is completed in 2022, our UK fleet of offshore wind farms will be capable of generating enough clean electricity to power more than 5.5 million homes.”
In 2017, Copenhagen-listed Ørsted completed a “profound transformation”, ceasing all investment in oil and gas and fully committing to renewable energy.
Since then, it has built more offshore wind farms than any other developer in the world.
With a total of 12 complete offshore wind farms in the UK, Ørsted’s sites are able to produce enough green electricity to power over 4.2 million homes a year.
That’s expected to rise to over 5.5m when the company’s current construction projects become operational.
Kwasi Kwarteng, Westminster’s Business & Energy Secretary, added: “With the largest installed capacity in the world, the UK is a true world-leader in offshore wind. Ørsted’s significant milestone not only supports our climate commitments but demonstrates how far the UK has come in offshore wind in just 15 years, providing cheap, green energy to tens of thousands of homes and supporting good-quality jobs.”
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