UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has approved an increase in the total works area for the Hornsea Project Two onshore substation sites.
Optimus Wind Limited and Breesea Limited, acting on behalf of Ørsted, applied for a non-material change to the Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm Order 2016, requesting an increase in the total works area for the onshore HVDC converter substation(s) and/or the HVAC substations(s) and associated landscaping on two permanently acquired plots from 35,672 square metres to 49,326 square metres.
The Secretary of State has concluded that the proposed change will not have any new significant effects or materially different effects from those already assessed in the original Environmental Statement and that a new Environmental Impact Assessment is not needed, as well as any other assessments or new licences.
The Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm Order 2016 has been amended to include the proposed changes, BEIS said.
Back in February, Optimus Wind Limited and Breesea Limited also submitted an application to reduce the maximum number of offshore HVAC collector substations permitted under the Hornsea Project Two Development Consent Order (DCO) from six to three, as well as to increase the permitted maximum size and maximum area of the offshore HVAC collector substation platforms. A decision on this application is pending.
In September 2017, the Hornsea Project Two received a Contract for Difference for 1,386MW. The wind farm will feature Siemens Gamesa 8MW turbines installed some 89 kilometres from the Yorkshire coast.
Once operational in 2022, it will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, leapfrogging the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One, also being developed by Ørsted.
Similarly to the Hornsea Project One, the electricity generated on Hornsea Project Two will be collected and delivered to the grid via three offshore collector substations and one reactive compensation substation.