The Danes today confirmed their investment go-ahead to co-locate the 300MW/600MWh storage system, among Europe’s largest, on the Norfolk site.  No cash value was disclosed.

Commissioning the devices is timetabled for late 2026. Co-locating both facilities will minimise disruption during construction and later during operations.

At 600MWh, the Tesla-built battery will host clean wind power in quantities enough to power a nominal 80,000 homes.

Ørsted sees gargantuan coulomb crèches like Swardeston as natural partners for its 12 wind farms now generating in British waters.

The company has 660MW/1,850MWh of batteries either under construction or already in service across the UK and US.  Over 2GW of further amp hotels are in various stages of development in the same regions, plus Ireland.

The departing Sunak administration intended to multiply the nation’s present offshore generation capacity fourfold by 2030, reaching 50GW.  In their manifesto due tomorrow, Labour are expected honour that target.

Duncan Clark, Ørsted’s boss in UK & Ireland, said: “The Swardeston battery will help ensure renewable energy is used in the best possible way by storing it when demand is lower and then releasing it back into the system when really needed. This maximises the potential of renewable energy whilst providing increased energy security and value to consumers. “

Mike Snyder, Megapack senior director at battery providers Tesla, said: “We are excited to be part of this industry-leading project with an exceptional partner. This project demonstrates the value and flexibility of Tesla’s best-in-class power electronics, providing enhanced grid stability and enabling more renewables on the grid.”

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Work can now begin on the megaproject 160 km off the Yorkshire coast, next to its already operating sisters Hornsea 1 and 2, together rated at 2.5GW.  First output is scheduled for late 2027.  The Danish firm already operates a total of twelve wind farms in Britain.

In July 2022 the operator won a 15-year contract for difference for Hornsea 3 at a strike price of £37.35 per MWh, inflation-indexed to 2012 prices. The CfD framework permits a reduction of the awarded CfD capacity.  Ørsted said it will use this flexibility to submit a share of Hornsea 3’s capacity into the UK’s next AR6 allocation round, expected in February.

Yesterday’s approval will underpin 5,000 jobs during Hornsea 3’s construction, said the firm, plus another 1,200 skilled roles for its operation.  The engineers’ confidence in the UK’s offshore wind industry stands to confirm billions more in investment cash.

Ørsted says it has already signed contracts with “hundreds” of suppliers for Hornsea 3.  The project is confirmed to be the founding customer for Britain’s first dedicated monopile – turbine tower – factory, opened by Korean manufacturers SeAH on Teesside.

The Danes were able to finalise many prices before fierce inflation this year raised costs for the world’s big contractors.  Siemens’ bigger turbines, each with a span of 236 metres, and experience gained on Hornsea 3‘s sisters will make it cheaper to operate, per MW produced.

Hornsea 1 entered service in 2020 and Hornsea 2 last year. Ørsted runs both from a base in Grimsby.

A fourth neighbouring zone, Hornsea 4, promises 2.6GW more, bringing the single mega-cluster up to 7GW.  The addition received its development consent order from the UK government this year and is now eligible for forthcoming CfD allocation rounds.

Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper commented: “Offshore wind is an extremely competitive global market, so we also welcome the attractive policy regime in the UK which has helped secure this investment”.

The developer’s UK boss Duncan Clark added: “Hornsea 3 will be a cornerstone in achieving the UK government’s climate and clean energy targets.. Our decision to build it is a vote of confidence in the UK market for offshore wind.

Energy security secretary Claire Coutinho tweeted her delight.

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The £717 million purchase values the 630MW farm, once the world’s biggest, at £2.89 billion.

Greencoat is buying out Danish developer Orsted’s 25% stake.   The remaining partners are RWE on 30%, Quebec-headquartered public pensions manager CDPQ on 25%, followed by Abu Dhabi’s nationalised producer Masdar on 20%.

Situated 20 km off the north Kent coast, the London Array began generating in October 2012 from its 175 MW Siemens 3.6 MW turbines.  It was formally commissioned the following May. For six years it was the world’s biggest wind farm, until Orsted opened its 750MW Walney Extension off Cumbria in 2018.

The London Array lands its power at Cleve Hill, near Faversham, the site of developers Hive’s & Wirsol’s 330MW solar farm, Britain’s biggest when approved as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project by energy secretary Alok Shama in May 2020.

Pre-commissioning shifts in ownership had seen Shell drop out of participation. The London Array spun its first turbine with Dong/Orsted owning 50%, E.On Renewables 30% and Abu Dhabi-nationalised producer Masdar on 20%

Today it is operated by RWE and earns 2 ROCs per MWh.

Greencoat’s total investment is expected to be £444 million, consisting of GBP 394 million in equity and GBP 50 million in debt. The transaction is die to complete on July 31.

Lucinda Riches, chairman of Greencoat UK Wind plc, commented:  “We are delighted to invest in London Array.

“The transaction was originated and negotiated on a bilateral basis and reflects our ability to continue to generate significant shareholder value through selective off-market investments”.

In addition to London Array, Greencoat UK Wind plc invests in 46 operating UK wind farms, with net generating capacity of 1,652MW.

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Fewer end-of-life blades sent to landfill and less carbon embedded in steel for towers are goals for the partnership.

The deal is made, say the pair, in response to what they identify as law-makers’ and developers’ demand for lower embedded emissions. It covers all the pair’s worldwide installations.  Both firms a major presence in British offshore wind, which the government wants reach 50GW in capacity within seven years.

Electricity made from wind comes in at a mere 1% per unit of the carbon content of coal-fired power, they note.  But Vestas and Ørsted say they must go further.

By committing to sustainable procurement in all future offshore projects they share, they say the Danish developer is creating demand for Vestas’ innovative low-carbon and circular solutions.

Ørsted group president and CEO Mads Nipper said: “There’s no playing defence when it comes to climate change. And no progress without partnerships.

“Ørsted is are very proud to partner with Vestas to integrate and scale cutting-edge decarbonisation and circularity solutions to meet future customer demands for net-zero wind farms. Together, we’re leading the industry towards Net Zero.

The Dane called for decision-makers across the globe to also take action and help drive demand for low-carbon and circular solutions within renewable energy.“

His Vestas counterpart Henrik Andersen added;  “The energy transition requires unprecedented scale and pace, and we need strong partnerships between leading companies and industries to succeed.

“We are excited to partner with Ørsted to expedite the deployment of our cutting-edge circular blade recycling technology.

“This partnership is a leap forward for developing circular wind power projects and sends a powerful message that commercial agreements and collaboration are vital in our urgent fight against the climate crisis.“

For all shared new offshore projects, the two companies now pledge to :

• install a minimum of 25 % low-carbon steel towers. Use of scrap steel re-cast with renewable electricity can cut embedded carbon by as much as 70%, Vestas says
• opt for re-purposed second-life blades and scale up technology for recycling blade materials

Over two years partnering in the CETEC project, Vestas were first to break down composite materials in both existing and future epoxy-based blades, using the recovered epoxy resin for new blades.

It is currently working to upscale recycling with partners Olin and Stena Recycling.

Ørsted and Vestas have been leading the renewable energy industry towards a sustainable build-out of wind energy, while increasing scale and reducing costs.

Ørsted and Vestas claim leadership as the first renewable energy developer and manufacturer, respectively, to have validated 1.5 ºC-aligned science-based targets for decarbonisation of their entire value chain. Both companies say they’ve implemented industry-leading programmes, helping suppliers strip carbon from their operations.

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Hornsea 1, operated by Ørsted off the Yorkshire coast, will now provide 110 GWh each year until 2025, an output which the parties claim could meet the consumption of nearly 38,000 homes.

Rated at 1.2 GW and generating since 2019, Hornsea 1 was until recently the world’s biggest operational wind farm.

The Wiltshire-based supplier has been purchasing from the Danish generators since 2017, chiefly from their Westermost Rough marine facility.

Good Energy chief executive Nigel Pocklington hailed today’s deal as “our most significant new agreement since the company was founded more than 20 years ago”.

It adds to its sourcing through contracts with 1,700 independent UK generators, including solar farms, wind farms and hydroelectric projects.

“We are proud to support the transition to a cleaner and greener future by enabling customers to buy their power from renewable sources”, said Pocklington.

“It demonstrates our commitment to continued growth in the renewable energy market so that we can encourage even more homes and businesses to play their part in tackling climate change.”

Located more than 70 miles off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea 1 comprises 174 turbines spread over almost 160 square miles of the North Sea.

Ørsted’s head of power origination Joseph Conlan said: “Our third agreement with Good Energy is testament to the strong working relationship we have as businesses and speaks to the strong partnership approach we have built.

Last week the government revealed that 2022 saw offshore & onshore wind making a record 24.6% share of UK electricity.

Trade body RenewableUK estimates that almost 3.2GW of offshore wind capacity was installed in 2022.

Onshore turbines, still stymied in England from expansion despite ministerial promises to lift the home nation’s planning curbs, supplied 9.8% of UK consumption.

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Storage of CO2 and hydrogen are included in a memo of understanding the firm has signed with marine wind-farm developers Ørsted and project managers Goal7.   Their task is to explore powering new integrated energy hubs in the North Sea with wind-generated electricity.

London-based multinational Neptune has filed three applications under the North Sea Transition Authority’s Carbon Dioxide Appraisal and Storage licensing round, intending to secure licences enabling it to develop hub proposals. The authority expects to issue licences early in the new year.

Earlier this month oil giants BP, Equinor and Ithaca signed a government-supported understanding to investigate technical and commercial feasibility of running rigs up to 180 km from land from either offshore or land-based turbines.

The first two of Ørsted’s four-phase Hornsea Wind farm developments off Yorkshire are now in operation.  At over 1.3GW Hornsea II surpassed its forerunner as the world’s biggest wind farm, when commissioned in August this year.

Neptune Energy’s director of new energy Pierre Girard, said: “The development of integrated energy hubs is an important part of Neptune’s strategy to store more carbon than is emitted from our operations and the use of our sold products by 2030.

“The agreement with Ørsted and Goal7 will support research into the potential use of wind-generated renewable electricity to power our future hubs, which could comprise new and repurposed offshore assets and bring together hydrogen production and carbon injection facilities.”

Duncan Clark, Ørsted’s managing director for UK & Ireland said: “The UK is a world leader in deploying offshore renewable energy.

“It’s crucial that we use this clean technology as effectively as possible, finding new and alternative routes to market to ensure we are able to maximise the use of renewable power at the time it is produced.

“We must continue taking action to limit the damaging effects of climate change.  Supporting the decarbonisation of other industrial sectors and providing renewable energy to enable more sustainable carbon storage is an important consideration as the UK transitions towards a low-carbon economy.

“As we build out the largest offshore wind zone in the world with our Hornsea projects and demand for electricity continues to increase, optimising production of these huge offshore assets will bring even greater value to consumers and support the UK’s efforts to meet its 2050 net zero commitments.”

In April 2020, Neptune Energy  announced its intention to produce the world’s first seawater-sourced green hydrogen from a rig in the North Sea.

Neptune’s PosHYdon pilot partners the oil firm with Dutch pipeline operators and Nexstep, the nation’s agency tasked to re-purpose redundant marine rigs.

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“As one of the world’s largest renewable energy companies, we’ve set the ambition to decarbonise our entire supply chain by 2040,” says Jakob Askou Bøss, senior vice president, Corporate Strategy and Stakeholder Relations, at Ørsted. “Without low-carbon steel, that won’t be possible. With SteelZero, we want to make it clear to the steel industry that we’re ready to be part of the journey of innovation and collaboration to get there.”

Engaging with suppliers to decarbonise supply chain
In January 2020, Ørsted launched a programme to reduce emissions in the most carbon-intensive categories of the company’s supply chain: manufacture of wind turbines, foundations, substations, cables, and components. These are produced using materials that are energy-intensive to extract and manufacture. Ørsted’s strategic suppliers are asked to disclose their own emissions, set science-based carbon reduction targets, and use 100 % renewable electricity in manufacturing, among other key requirements.

There are substantial technical challenges to achieving a carbon-neutral supply chain, including around steel. Significant innovation is needed to find sustainable and cost-competitive ways to produce low-carbon steel, entailing close engagement with suppliers. The SteelZero initiative will support such engagement by fostering low-carbon innovation and collaboration across the steel value chain.

“The good news is that our strategic suppliers share our ambitions,” says Jakob Askou Bøss. “So far, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback, and our suppliers are fully engaged. The message we’ve heard loud and clear is that we must solve this together.”

Towards net-zero steel
SteelZero is a new initiative from the non-profit Climate Group, run in partnership with ResponsibleSteel. Organisations that join SteelZero commit to a transition to procuring, specifying, or stocking 100 % net-zero steel by 2050. The commitment framework also includes an interim commitment for 2030, with various options to achieve this.

Jenny Chu, Head of Energy Productivity Initiatives at the Climate Group, says: “Steel is a critical material for the renewable energy sector, but its production accounts for a significant amount of companies’ supply chain emissions. That’s why it’s so encouraging to have Ørsted, one of the largest renewable energy companies in the world, sign up as a founding member of SteelZero. Ørsted’s bold commitment to procuring 100% net-zero steel by 2040 not only demonstrates real leadership and ambition, but will also inspire Ørsted’s peers and others across the supply chain to follow suit.”

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