Offshore meets onshore: Hornsea 3's export cable arrives on land
The first offshore cable for Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm has been laid and pulled into shore to meet its onshore counterpart.
This marks a significant milestone in offshore works for the world’s single largest offshore wind farm. Once operational, power from the export cable with join with the onshore cable travelling more than 50km underneath the soil before it arrives at the onshore converter station at Swardeston, Norfolk.
Over 2026, Jan de Nul will transport and install a total of 680km of export cable allowing clean energy to reach more than 3.3m UK homes. 680km is around the same distance as that from London to Aberdeen.
The HVDC Export Cable, consisting of two HVDC cables (positive & negative pole ) coupled with a fibre optic cable, is bundled together during the installation process.
The fibre optic cable acts as a communication tool transmitting information back to the wind farm operations centre. Each HVDC cable weighs over 50kg per metre - the equivalent of a Great Dane
The fabrication of the Hornsea 3 export cables began three years ago, by cable supplier NKT and will be completed this summer.
Luke Bridgman, Managing Director, Hornsea 3 at Ørsted, said: “The arrival of the first cable onshore marks a significant milestone for Hornsea 3 and is a testament to the hard work of our teams at Ørsted, Jan de Nuul and NKT.
“Every element of this wind farm is being completed safely, efficiently and sustainably by experts in their field.”
Over 2026, Jan de Nul will transport and install a total of 680km of export cable allowing clean energy to reach more than 3.3m UK homes. 680km is around the same distance as that from London to Aberdeen.
The HVDC Export Cable, consisting of two HVDC cables (positive & negative pole ) coupled with a fibre optic cable, is bundled together during the installation process.
The fibre optic cable acts as a communication tool transmitting information back to the wind farm operations centre. Each HVDC cable weighs over 50kg per metre - the equivalent of a Great Dane
The fabrication of the Hornsea 3 export cables began three years ago, by cable supplier NKT and will be completed this summer.
Luke Bridgman, Managing Director, Hornsea 3 at Ørsted, said: “The arrival of the first cable onshore marks a significant milestone for Hornsea 3 and is a testament to the hard work of our teams at Ørsted, Jan de Nuul and NKT.
“Every element of this wind farm is being completed safely, efficiently and sustainably by experts in their field.”