The first Hornsea Project One substation topside, Z12, has been installed at the site 120km off the Yorkshire coast.
The offshore substation topside was installed by Semco Maritime using the Saipem 7000 vessel.
The Z12 offshore substation is one of three which will collect the electricity from the wind farm’s 174 turbines and transform it to a higher voltage so it can be exported to shore with fewer losses.
Due to the unprecedented cable lengths from being located so far offshore, a reactive compensation station will also be installed between the wind farm and the landfall; a first for an offshore wind farm.
The offshore substation topsides were manufactured by Bladt Industries, and the jacket foundations for the substations, the first of which was installed recently, were built by Dragados Offshore.
Owned and developed by Ørsted, the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One will be the biggest wind farm in the world when it is operational in 2020, taking the record from Orsted’s Walney Extension wind farm whose final turbine was installed this week.