For this contract, 100km of inter-array cables will be supplied by JDR Cables, which will be assembled at its facility in Hartlepool. The inter-array cables will link the turbines in the Hornsea Project Two and will transmit the generated electricity to an offshore substation, which will in-turn transform it to higher voltage for transmission onshore.
JDR Cables stated that for the Hornsea Project Two, it will supply 66kV as the inter-array cables, which are claimed to reduce electrical losses during transmission.
JDR CEO Richard Turner said: “Hornsea Project Two is a 1.4 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind project that will be built at the lowest ever price seen in the UK.
“This incredible achievement is being enabled by organisations like JDR and Ørsted working collaboratively to push the technical boundaries of offshore wind projects – making them more economic than ever before and leading the way for future developments.”
When operational in 2022, the Hornsea Project Two will supply clean electricity to more than 1.3 million homes and will surpass its sister project Hornsea One, as the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
The Hornsea Project Two will include 165 of Siemens Gamesa’s 8MW turbines, each with a rotor diameter of 167m. It will be located nearly 100km from the coast and is expected to be spread out in an area of about 462km2.
The project will help in reducing nearly 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 and 46,000 tonnes of SO2 emissions annually.
Patrick Harnett, Engineering, Procurement and Construction Director for Hornsea Project Two said: “This contract builds on experience from previous projects including Race Bank offshore wind farm, which we opened earlier this year, and Hornsea Project One, currently in construction.
“As our wind farm projects have grown in size, and distance from shore, so too have the contracts we place within the supply chain. The technology we use is also changing as we innovate to build these projects at massively lower cost of electricity into the UK’s grid. We are proud to sign this contract with a UK-based firm, and look forward to continuing our collaboration with JDR Cables.”