August 3 (Renewables Now) – Ørsted (CPH:ORSTED) has signed the contract for difference (CfD) for its 2.85-GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind project in the UK, the Danish offshore wind developer said on Wednesday as the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) announced that all 99 awards from the fourth CfD round have now been formalised.
The UK government’s latest CfD auction round, the results of which were announced last month, secured nearly 11 GW of clean energy, including almost 7 GW of offshore wind. Hornsea 3 won a CfD at an inflation-indexed strike price of GBP 37.35 (USD 45.44/EUR 44.64) per MWh in 2012 prices.
With the CfDs signed, a total of 93 individual projects will now work with LCCC to meet their contractual milestones. The first of them are expected to become operational in 2023-2024. The projects include various technologies such as tidal stream and floating offshore, as well as solar, onshore and offshore wind, and range in size from an average of 33.48 MW for solar facilities to the huge Hornsea 3 project.
“Getting contracts signed means projects can push on and deliver jobs and opportunities across the country. This will help to secure our homegrown supply of cheaper renewables and bring down the price of energy for millions of British families as we shift away from expensive fossil fuels,” said Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng, who attended the Hornsea 3 CfD signing.
The process of producing and receiving signed contracts by LCCC has been automated, which will also save time in future rounds set to be held annually from March 2023.
Ørsted’s vice president Benj Sykes said that Hornsea 3 “demonstrates how far the industry has come in terms of cost and scale and, crucially, in bringing forward projects that will deliver low cost, clean energy to households and businesses across the country.”
Located 160 km (99 miles) off the Yorkshire coast and slated for commissioning in 2027, the wind farm is expected to produce enough power for 3.2 million UK homes. Along with Hornsea 1 and 2, it forms the Hornsea zone which will have a capacity of over 5 GW. The zone will also encompass Ørsted’s Hornsea 4 project with a potential capacity of 2.6 GW, which is currently in the planning process with a decision anticipated early next year.
Hornsea 3 will be the lead customer for SeAH Wind’s monopile factory in Teesside, for which there was a ground-breaking recently.
Separately, Denmark’s Cadeler A/S said on Monday it has signed an agreement with Ørsted to install foundations at Hornsea 3, probably starting in 2026. The project will mark the first deployment of the company’s F-class vessel.
(GBP 1 = USD 1.22/EUR 1.20)
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