Onshore cable works contract
Published: 17 August, 2022
Ørsted, a sustainable energy company, has signed a contract with a leading UK engineering and construction company VolkerFitzpatrick for the installation of onshore cables for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm.
The contract - subject to Ørsted taking a Final Investment Decision on Hornsea 3 – will see VolkerFitzpatrick install 240 km of onshore cables that will connect the offshore wind farm from the landfall at Weybourne in Norfolk to the Norwich Main National Grid Substation.
VolkerFitzpatrick will be responsible for the civil works associated with the cable installation and National Grid connection, the cable installation itself and the reinstatement of land following the installation of the HVDC cables, including tree and hedgerow planting.
With a capacity of 2,852 MW, Hornsea 3 will produce enough low-cost, clean, renewable electricity to power around 3.2 million UK homes, making a significant contribution to the UK Government’s ambition of having 50 GW offshore wind in operation by 2030 as part of the British Energy Security Strategy.
Hornsea 3 will be located 160 km from the Yorkshire coast. When it is fully online, Ørsted’s Hornsea zone – comprising Hornsea 1, 2 and 3 – will have a total capacity of in excess of 5 GW. This will be the world’s largest offshore wind zone, producing enough low-cost, clean, renewable electricity to power more than 5 million UK homes.
With offices around the UK, VolkerFitzpatrick is one of the UK's leading engineering and construction companies, providing specialist building, civil engineering and industry-focussed skills to a range of markets including the energy sector. After a successful collaboration with VolkerInfra on the Hornsea 2 project, Ørsted looks forward to working closely with the VolkerWessels UK group again in order to deliver another safe and sustainable project.
VolkerFitzpatrick is aiming to hold a ‘Meet the Buyer’ event in late September 2022, to be held in the east of England. Further details will be released by VolkerFitzpatrick shortly.
Hornsea 3 senior project director, Luke Bridgman, commented: “As well as providing low-cost clean energy at scale, Hornsea 3 is also supporting the further development of the UK supply chain. Through our partnerships with leading industry expertise, such as VolkerFitzpatrick, we will be looking to share opportunities with UK suppliers and contractors to work on this ground-breaking project.”
Richard Offord, chief executive officer of VolkerWessels UK, said: “The team and I are delighted that Ørsted has chosen VolkerFitzpatrick to install the onshore cables for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm. We are proud that we will be able to bring to this project the skills and capabilities of our teams, developed through years of experience, along with our reputation for strong collaborative working and our continued support for the local supply chain and community.”
Ørsted is proud to have been constructing and operating offshore wind projects in the UK for over 15 years. In the past five years alone, the company has directly placed major contracts with over 200 UK companies, with many hundreds more supported indirectly to help build and maintain our offshore wind farms. For more information on our supply chain, visit https://orsted.co.uk/energy-solutions/offshore-wind/supply-chain
