Hornsea 1, located in the North Sea, generates enough green energy to power over 1 million UK homes. The wind farm comprises 174 turbines and covers an area of 407 square kilometres (157.2 square miles), which is over five times the size of the city of Hull.
Hornsea 1 spans a huge area of approximately 407 square kilometres (157.2 square miles) – this is equal to five times the size of the city of Hull or 58,500 times the size of Blundell Park, home of Grimsby Town F.C.
With a combined total capacity of 1.2 GW, Hornsea 1 held the title of the world’s largest wind farm until its sister project, Hornsea 2, came into operation in August 2022.
The wind farm comprises 174 wind turbines of 7 megawatts (MW). Each one is 190 metres tall – larger than the Humber Bridge concrete towers or the Gherkin building in London – with 75m long blades. A Hornsea 1 turbine can power a UK home for over a day with a single rotation.
Maximising the opportunities for the Humber region and UK industry
We have invested over £1 billion in the Humber region, including more than £45 million directly into local community, education, and skills development in the region to date, such as the £1m donation to the Grimsby’s Horizon Youth Zone, with significant further investments planned.
We are also helping to support a growing UK supply chain. In the past five years alone, we have placed major contracts with hundreds of UK suppliers with £4.5 billion invested to date and a further £8.6 billion expected to be invested over the next decade.
Discover the offshore wind supply chain
Ørsted is playing a leading role in delivering the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, an ambitious partnership between the UK Government and the offshore wind industry that will see 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.
In addition to supporting the continued development of the UK’s offshore wind clusters, including the Humber, North Wales/North West and East Anglia, Ørsted is also involved in a number of collaborative business support programmes, which act as a catalyst for innovation and seek to leverage skills and capabilities from adjacent sectors. This includes the University of Hull’s Aura initiative, the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s Fit For Offshore Renewables initiative and NOF Energy.
East Coast Community Benefit Fund
Our community grants help support local groups and organisations in the coastal regions where we construct and operate our offshore wind farms. Our three Community Benefit Funds — Burbo Bank Extension Community Fund, East Coast Community Fund and Walney Extension Community Fund — have so far awarded over £8 million to hundreds of local social and environmental projects along the East and West coasts.
The East Coast Community Fund is linked to the Hornsea projects and Racebank offshore wind farm and has £465,000 available to local organisations each year. Since the Fund was launched in 2016, over £2 million has been awarded to 204 projects in coastal areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk.
Our Funds are administered by independent grant-making charity GrantScape, with decision-making supported by local Advisory Groups made up of community specialists who benefit from a strong and deep understanding of the local community and environment.
Here you can read our Hornsea 1 community newsletters published during project construction:
