Hornsea 3

Hitachi Energy, the global technology and market leader in power grids, has won a major order from Ørsted, the world-leading Danish energy company, to provide two high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems to transmit emission-free electricity from the Hornsea Three wind farm, located more than 120 km off the UK east coast. 

The wind farm will have the capacity to generate at least 2.85 gigawatts of renewable electricity, enough to power more than 3 million UK homes. With more than 200 wind turbines installed across almost 700 square kilometers*, this will be the single largest offshore wind farm in the world. This project is a significant step towards the British Energy Security Strategy of sourcing up to 50 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Hitachi Energy has supported Ørsted with the grid connection of Hornsea One and Hornsea Two, but Hornsea 3 will be the first phase to use HVDC application in the Hornsea cluster. 

The overall HVDC system, including the offshore platform, is delivered in partnership with Aibel. Hitachi Energy will supply two HVDC Light® converter systems, while Aibel will deliver two HVDC offshore converter platforms. The platform is based on Hitachi Energy’s modular HVDC system including its advanced control and protection system, MACH™. As the HVDC offshore market grows and becomes more complex, Hitachi Energy will continue to develop solutions with its customers and partners to enable a more flexible offshore grid of the future.

Hitachi Energy is supplying four HVDC converter stations, which convert AC power to DC for transmission in the subsea cables, then reconvert it to AC for integration into the onshore grid. Two of the converter stations will be installed on offshore platforms and two at mainland grid connections.