Danish utility Ørsted has picked Belgian contractor Jan de Nul to install the offshore export cables for the massive 2.9GW Hornsea Three offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea.
Under the terms of the deal Jan de Nul will be responsible for seabed preparation, transport, installation and protection of two (high-voltage direct-current) HVDC export cables with a combined length of 350km that will connect the wind farm to the UK electricity grid.
The wind farm, which is expected to be the largest offshore wind farm anywhere in the world on completion, is situated 160km from the Yorkshire coast in the north-east of England.
Ørsted made the final investment decision (FID) on Hornsea Three in December 2023, after securing a contract for difference (CfD) for the project a year earlier at an inflation-indexed strike price of £37.35/MWh (in 2012 prices).
Under the latest deal, Jan de Nul’s cable-laying vessels Isaac Newton and Connector will transport and install the cables linking Hornsea Three to the UK mainland.
Meanwhile, a “variety of burial solutions” will be used, including the installation of around 150,000 tonnes of rock to protect the subsea cables.
Cable installation operations are planned to start during 2025 with all works scheduled to be finished by 2027, Ørsted stated.
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