Turbine Installation Start

By June 2021, the turbine installation campaign for Ørsted’s Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea was underway. This is evidenced by Ørsted’s own project photography exhibition and web page, which captions one of the images with the statement that “Ørsted’s 1000th turbine [was] installed in UK waters on Hornsea 2, June 2021.” Because this milestone turbine was installed at Hornsea 2 during that month, it confirms that offshore turbine erection activities had already commenced on the project site by that time, with at least a portion of the 165 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW units being installed. The Hornsea 2 project page positions this achievement within the broader narrative of building what is described as the world’s largest offshore wind farm, capable of powering over 1.4 million UK homes once fully operational. The installation of Ørsted’s 1000th UK turbine on Hornsea 2 in June 2021 therefore marks a significant construction-phase milestone for both the company and the project. It indicates that major offshore works had progressed from foundation and cable activities into large-scale turbine installation, a critical step toward the project’s eventual full operation in August 2022, when all turbines and associated infrastructure would be in place and generating green electricity for the UK grid.