Completed by Ørsted’s Thailand-based team in partnership with Aibel and Hitachi Energy, the structure once installed will rise 70m above sea level or 1.2 times the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa!1 The topside needed 38 special Self Propelled Motor Transporters – or SMPTs – with 380 axels under the support frames to move it onto the vessel in preparation for the voyage.
It is now on a 55 day journey of more than 13,000 nautical miles to Haugesund, Norway for the installation and commissioning of high voltage equipment so it is ready for use offshore. The structure will travel on the aptly-named Heavy Transportation Vessel BigLift Barentsz.
Prior to sailaway, the load and the voyage was blessed by Buddhist monks in a special ceremony.
Luke Bridgman, Managing Director, Hornsea 3, said:
“The sailaway of the first of our Hornsea 3 offshore converter station topsides is an important milestone. It marks the culmination of three years of hard work by our teams in Europe and Thailand, and the start of our next phase in delivering the world’s single biggest offshore wind farm.
“This huge structure is an impressive piece of engineering, which so far has been completed safely, efficiently, on time and on budget. It’s a testament to the skill of our workers, as well as a visual aid demonstrating the complexity and scale of Hornsea 3.”
Ørsted signed the contract to provide offshore converter stations with Aibel and Hitachi Energy in 2022. .
ends
For more information, images or to arrange an interview please contact:
Sarah Brown
External Communications Lead, Hornsea 3 at Ørsted
SARBR@orsted.com
+44 7443 154180
Notes to Editors:
1 The Leaning Tower of Pisa is around 57m tall at its tallest point.
About Ørsted
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants, and provides energy products to its customers. Globally, Ørsted is the market leader in offshore wind and it is constructing the world’s biggest offshore wind farms off the UK’s East Coast. Ørsted is recognised on the CDP Climate Change A-List as a global leader on climate action and was the first energy company in the world to have its science-based net-zero emissions target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs approx. 8,000 people, including over 1,100 in the UK. Visit orsted.co.uk or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.