Dong Energy turns sole owner for offshore Hornsea Project One in UK

Danish wind power developer Dong Energy has completed acquisition for the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One from its joint venture partner SMart Wind in the UK.

66.66% ownership stake in the offshore wind project has been purchased by the energy firm from SMart Wind, which is a joint venture itself formed by Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services.

SMart Wind and Dong Energy had signed the joint venture agreement in December 2011.

The agreement included an option according to which DONG Energy could turn into the sole owner for the project following approval from the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

The recent Dong Energy acquisition follows federal consent, which was allowed in December 2014.

The Hornsea Project One will house three offshore wind facilities with and is likely to be commissioned around 2020.

Located 120km off the Yorkshire coast, the project Hornsea Project One will have between 150 and 332 wind turbine installations, to be selected on the basis of its unit size.

Once operational, the offshore project is expected to have a power generation capacity to suffice around 800,000 UK households.

Dong Energy Wind Power executive vice president Samuel Leupold said: "The size and location of Hornsea Project One makes it the world’s first offshore wind farm with a capacity of more than 1GW located far from shore, and it brings some great opportunities for us and the supply chain to take advantage of economies of scale and further drive down the cost of electricity.

"We will now continue on our own to develop the project towards a final investment decision. The size of the project and the excellent wind conditions at site together with our strong focus on cost will make Hornsea one an important milestone towards the 100 Euro/MWh target."