Hornsea 3 milestone as first foundations touch down in Teesside
Ørsted has taken delivery of the first six of 197 monopiles for its offshore wind farm at its 3.3m sq ft storage site at Steel River Quay in Teesworks.
The structures were manufactured by Spanish company Haizea, and have travelled 960 nautical miles from Bilbao in Spain.
Ørsted signed for the Steel River Quay site in July last year, selecting it for its close proximity to Hornsea 3 and because of its surrounding network of green energy businesses, such as two of its contract partners, Severfield and SeAH.
The size of the monopiles is immense: each weigh an average of 1,670 tonnes and are 90m in length; is the equivalent weight to nine of the heaviest blue whales and the length of around three of the longest; and their diameter at the top is 8m and at the bottom it can be up to 11m.
They made their voyage to the UK on Biglift’s CY Interocean II and the load out and load in were completed by the Cadeler team.
Hornsea 3 is the world’s single largest offshore wind farm.
The 4,500-acre Teesworks site is being transformed into a centre for green industry, securing billions of pounds of investment and creating thousands of highly skilled jobs.
Luke Bridgman, managing director of Hornsea 3, said: “2026 is the year we begin offshore works on Hornsea 3 in earnest, and the arrival of these first monopiles marks a key milestone in that process.
“Working closely with expert partners is how we’ll make Hornsea 3 a success and we’re confident that we have the best possible team in place to make that happen.”
Borja Zarraga, chief executive of Haizea Wind Group, said: “Delivering the first monopiles for this project is a milestone for Haizea Bilbao.
“The expansion of our facilities was born from the trust Ørsted placed in us, and being part of Hornsea 3 allows us to demonstrate our technical capabilities and our commitment as an expert partner in large-scale offshore projects.”
Mikkel Gleerup, chief executive of Cadeler, said: “The delivery of the first set of monopiles for Hornsea 3 marks an important step in Cadeler’s development as a full-scope offshore wind partner.
“This milestone has been enabled by the investments that Cadeler has made in specialised foundation expertise and vessels specifically engineered for extra-large monopile foundation transportation and installation.
“With three vessels committed to the Hornsea 3 campaign, including our brand new A-class vessel, Wind Ally, Cadeler is ready to execute this project safely and efficiently.”
Ally Cameron, managing director at Steel River Quay, located at Teesworks said: “Welcoming the first Hornsea 3 monopiles into Teesside is a proud moment for both the project and for Steel River Quay.
“Our state-of-the-art facilities have been purpose-built to handle components of this scale, and it’s fantastic to see the site now playing a central role in delivering what will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
“This arrival underlines the strength of the partnerships forming here on the Tees and highlights how our region is helping drive the UK’s clean energy transition while creating long-term industrial opportunity and skilled jobs locally.”
