Offshore wind

We're leading the world in offshore wind right here in the UK

Limitless supply. Limitless opportunity.

The UK is the world leader in offshore wind, with more capacity installed than any other country. Offshore wind powers over 7.5 million UK homes a year and is set to become the backbone of a clean, reliable and affordable energy system. By 2030, the UK will be getting about a third of its electricity from offshore wind.

Offshore wind is one of the country’s biggest growth industries, already employing thousands of people in highly-skilled jobs and attracting billions in investment, helping to transform coastal communities.

Home to the world’s largest offshore wind farms

The UK is home to the world’s largest offshore wind farms and here we have 12 operational offshore wind farms that we either own or partly own, one wind farm under construction and a further three in our development pipeline. Ørsted’s current installed capacity in the UK is 4,921MW which is enough green energy to power over 4.2 million UK homes a year. This will rise to over 5.5 million homes a year by 2022.

Take a closer look at our offshore wind farms

Breaking our own records

Wind farms have been increasing in size; for a long time the largest was London Array, but in 2018 we overtook it with Walney Extension located off the North-West coast of England. However, our Hornsea One Offshore Wind Farm is nearly double the size of that – truly representing a step change in the size of offshore wind farms. It is the first offshore wind farm ever to be built over one gigawatt, the furthest from shore and now powers well over a million homes with clean electricity. But it won’t hold the title for long, it’s sister project Hornsea Two will take the crown in 2022, providing enough clean electricity for well over 1.3 million homes.

We've become a global leader in offshore wind, and by 2025 it is our worldwide ambition to power 30 million people with energy produced by our offshore wind farms.

Total output for Ørsted-built offshore wind farms

Generating renewable energy with the world’s biggest offshore wind turbines

Turbines now generate over four times the power of the first UK offshore wind turbines, dramatically reducing costs across the industry. Innovation has been a key driver of cost reduction and we expect to see turbine sizes continue to grow.

Once operational in 2022, turbines constructed for our giant 1.4GW Hornsea Two offshore wind farm will be almost 18 times as powerful as those used for Vindeby, the world’s first offshore wind farm located off the Danish island of Lolland.

One rotation of a wind turbine blade can generate enough electricity to power a house for over a day

Helping to develop a competitive UK offshore wind supply chain

We are playing a leading role in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, which aims to deploy at least 40GW offshore wind by 2030, triple jobs in the sector to 27,000, and has set an ambition of increasing exports fivefold to £2.6bn per annum.

For over 10 years, we have worked closely with UK companies to deliver significant multi-billion-pound infrastructure projects. Ørsted is committed to supporting the development of a competitive UK supply chain that can assist in the construction and operation of our wind farms both in the UK and in a growing number of markets around the world.

Our close collaboration with suppliers has helped transform coastal communities through business investment, and employment opportunities, contributing to a more productive, competitive and export orientated supply chain.

Find out about our existing supply chain opportunities

Ørsted’s East Coast Hub Operations and Maintenance facility in Grimsby

Community benefits of offshore wind

It is not just businesses that benefits from offshore wind. The communities in which we operate our 12 offshore wind farms play a vital role in helping us realise our ambition to create a world that runs entirely on green energy and we want to have a positive impact on those communities. This is why we have established three Community Benefit Funds (CBF) to support local groups and organisations.

Our three funds have awarded over £4 million pounds to more than 100 projects in various categories on the East and West coast of the UK from the arts, community activities and services, education and skills, nature conservation parks and open spaces to play facilities, sport and more.

The communities in which we operate are also home to our offices, which are helping to regenerate the surrounding areas. Our East Coast Hub in Grimsby is a state-of-the-art offshore wind Operations and Maintenance Centre which employs 350 members of staff, with 83% of its 350 employees living within an hour’s distance of the site. It has become a game changing industry first, raising the bar for the way we maintain offshore wind farms.

Discover how offshore wind is transforming UK coastal communities

Our wind farms

Learn about our UK offshore wind farms in development, in construction, and those that are operational

Explore our UK wind farms