Ørsted and Jan De Nul Group have signed the offshore export cable installation contract for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm. 

It is the first offshore HVDC installation contract awarded by Ørsted in the UK.

Belgium-based Jan De Nul Group will be responsible for the seabed preparation, transport, installation and protection of 350 km of HVDC export cables and platform interlink cable connecting the wind farm to the UK electricity grid.

Hornsea 3 is located 160 km off the Yorkshire coast.

When the wind farm comes online, Ørsted’s Hornsea trio – comprising Hornsea 1, 2, and 3 – will have a total capacity of more than 5GW, making it the world’s largest operating offshore wind zone.

The two HVDC export cables and interlink cable will have a combined length of 350 km and connect the wind farm to the national electricity grid.

Cable-laying vessels Isaac Newton and Connector will transport and install the cables, and to protect the cables a variety of burial solutions will be used including the rock-installation vessel Simon Stevin which will install up to 150,000 tonnes of rock to protect the cables.

The cable installation operations are planned to start during 2025 with all works scheduled to be finished by 2027.

Once complete, Hornsea 3 - with up to 200 wind turbines - will be capable of generating enough renewable electricity to power more than 3.3 million UK homes, making a significant contribution to the UK government’s ambition of having 50GW offshore wind in operation by 2030 as part of the British Energy Security Strategy. 

Luke Bridgman, Hornsea 3 senior project director at Ørsted, said: “We are looking forward to collaborating again with Jan de Nul on this export cable contract.

"Awarding this contract is a significant milestone for Hornsea 3, completing our major contract awards for the world's largest offshore transmission system. 

“Together with our contractor partners Aibel, Hitachi, NKT, Volker Fitzpatrick and AMS No-Dig, we will deliver a truly exceptional system that will connect 2.9 GW of green energy to the UK.”

Wouter Vermeersch, manager offshore cables at Jan De Nul Group, added: “We are proud to support Ørsted in building the world’s largest individual offshore wind farm by connecting 2.9 GW of renewable energy capacity to the UK’s national grid.

"Thanks to our collaboration with Ørsted, which includes recent projects such as the monopile installations for Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 in Germany, we keep on constructing the energy transition together.”

In addition to generating clean energy, Hornsea 3 will support up to 5,000 jobs during its construction phase, with up to a further 1,200 permanent jobs both directly and in the supply chain in the long operational phase. 

Hornsea 3 will be operated from Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub in Grimsby.