The largest contract ever awarded for work on offshore wind foundations is likely to see a Teesside company involved in the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm.
Subject to Ørsted taking a Final Investment Decision on Hornsea 3, the contract has been won by SeAH Wind Limited, a UK-based subsidiary of SeAH Steel Holdings alongside the Haizea Wind Group, through its subsidiary Haizea Bilbao.
Ørsted will be the first major customer at SeAH Wind’s new monopile facility in Teesside, and the agreement with Haizea marks the company’s first XXL monopile contract with Ørsted.
The deal with SeAH represents the single largest offshore wind foundations contract secured by any UK company. Each of the foundation structures for Hornsea 3 will weigh up to 2,400 tonnes and be up to 111 metres long. Monopile production is expected to start in 2024.
With a capacity of 2,852 MW, Hornsea 3 will produce enough low-cost, clean, renewable electricity to power around 3.2 million UK homes, making a significant contribution to the UK Government’s ambition of having 50 GW offshore wind in operation by 2030 as part of the British Energy Security Strategy.
Hornsea 3 will be located 160 km from the Yorkshire coast. When it is fully online, Ørsted’s Hornsea zone – comprising Hornsea 1, 2 and 3 – will have a total capacity of in excess of 5 GW. This will be the world’s largest offshore wind zone, producing enough low-cost, clean, renewable electricity to power more than 5 million UK homes.
Hornsea 3 Senior Project Director Luke Bridgman said: “Hornsea 3 represents another leap forward in terms of the size and scale of offshore wind farms. As well as adding a significant source of low-cost clean energy, the project is also supporting the further development of the UK supply chain. Through our projects, we are also making ongoing efforts to work with new and expanding players coming into the market to support reducing the cost of energy.”