First Hornsea 3 Offshore Export Cable In Place

The first export cable for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm has been laid and pulled into shore, according to an update from Ørsted on 26 March.

NKT, the project’s export cable supplier, began manufacturing the cables three years ago and will complete them this summer, while Jan de Nul will transport and install a total of 680 kilometres of export cable this year.

Ørsted Contracts Jan De Nul for Hornsea 3 Export Cable Installation Supply Chain The export cable consists of two HVDC cables and a fibre optic cable that transmits information back to the wind farm operations centre, which are bundled together during the installation process.

Once the 2.9 GW Hornsea 3 is operational, the offshore export cable will transport the electricity to the onshore cable, which runs more than 50 kilometres underground to the onshore converter station at Swardeston, Norfolk.

The Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm, jointly owned by Ørsted and Apollo-managed funds, is located approximately 160 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast, and is Ørsted’s third gigawatt-scale project in the North Sea’s Hornsea zone.

The offshore wind farm, which will feature Siemens Gamesa’s 14 MW turbines, is expected to be operational in 2027.