Offshore wind leaders on the Humber have given their own 2030 vision as a vintage 2022 was toasted.
The curtain came down on The Waterline Summit with a celebration of two completed projects in the cluster, Hornsea Two and Triton Knoll. The climate-focused conference had turned the clock forward for much of the three days as £15 billion of industrial decarbonisation opportunity was dissected.
Transformation on land is scheduled to come two decades on from the first turbines being installed off the Lincolnshire coast, with the transition on the Energy Estuary aided by the spotlight that has shone on the sector that has settled and soared.
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This year Hornsea Two, from Orsted, became the world’s largest offshore wind farm when commissioning completed in August, while RWE’s Triton Knoll has seen the biggest machines yet to be operated from Grimsby installed above the near North Sea waters it occupies.
Emma Toulson represented the cluster’s industry sponsor Orsted, to host the final session of the Marketing Humber and University of Hull-led event.
The head of stakeholder relations in the UK told how there are now 757 offshore wind turbines serviced from Port of Grimsby, 27 per cent of the UK’s total.
Reflecting on eight farms in operation, one embarking on construction and five more in development, including three from her organisation, she said: “We have done lots and there is more to come, the pipeline has continued to grow.
“We have 35 per cent of the total UK offshore wind generating capacity operating within the proximity of the Humber, that is a huge share of it, and we have got to make sure we work hard to keep capturing the benefits of the huge volume of offshore wind off the coast.
“We have 4.9GW now, by 2030 we’re looking at 14GW, which is an absolutely huge amount of power and gives us a world-leading edge. We are so well placed in the Humber to support that and get economic value out of it.”
Hornsea Two eclipsed ‘little’ sister Hornsea One to become the world's largest wind farm. Lauren Little, senior stakeholder advisor at Orsted, said: “We have built the world’s biggest and best value offshore wind farm, a man on the moon mission, built during pandemic times, an amazing accomplishment.”
The year also saw a decade of operations in Grimsby celebrated by Orsted - having started from a standing start with Westermost Rough, going on to acquire Lincs and Race Bank - the latter off plan - before embarking on the huge Hornsea zone.
“These are big power stations, and we’ve now got 3.8GW of green power out there, we have 590 offshore wind turbines powering 3.3 million homes, and it is going to be over 1,000 soon,” she said. “They all need people to operate, maintain and service, and we have 540 now. It was less than 20 a decade ago.”
So far Orsted’s Humber work totals a £9.5 billion investment, wth £45 million injected into the community. The figure will hit £14 billion by 2030, providing energy for 28 per cent of UK households, with 800 employees, a figure “that could be larger”.
Gigastack and Oyster, projects looking to develop green hydrogen production from Hornsea Two’s North Killingholme substation and marinised electrolysis within the turbine itself, are also being furthered.
Triton Knoll was the first completion of 2022, with the Vestas 9.5MW turbine creating its own little piece of cluster history.
Zoe Keeton, head of stakeholder and local markets for RWE, said: “Triton Knoll went into full operation this year, this and Hornsea Two were constructed during Covid, no mean feat in terms of keeping the workforce going.” She told how Sofia was now in construction, off the North Yorkshire coast, and will come through at 1.4GW.
“We are using the Grimsby hub, we are building the capability to work from there,” she said.
Dogger Bank South, two 1.5GW projects, were also flagged, with further potential for the town to serve further north.
“We are delivering and scaling up in the region,” she said. “It didn’t take us long to realise we would need a bigger operational space and we are about to place contracts for Grimsby hub, which will bring together Triton Knoll, Sofia and offer potential for further projects. We will be increasing the workforce to 140 people.”
Looking to 2030, she said: “We’re all about driving innovation. By 2030 we want to double our offshore portfolio globally. Wwe aim to have 50GW and will have invested £50 billion by 2030.”
Innovation, no matter how complex or simple, is the driver for Ben George, who heads up the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult as general manager - with the offshore wind operations and maintenance centre of excellence now established in Grimsby.
He said: “We have pedigree in offshore wind, tremendous experience, tremendous exposure and tremendous capacity. We should be leveraging that and focusing on innovation as that gives us the biggest potential or UK Plc in exports
What we are seeing in the UK is just a taste of what is happening around the world, and it is really important to take these opportunities and present the Humber’s capability and innovation to the rest of the world.”
There was also mention of the merger of Team Humber Marine Alliance and Grimsby Renewables Partnership, while David Williamson, operations manager for Siemens Gamesa’s Hull blade plant updated on the £186 million expansion underway to meet scale demands from clients, while mentioning a further celebratory point, manufacture of the 2,000th blade in its sixth year of production.
Such is the size now carbon beams will be added “a new skill set and trade for the industry”.
“The future is really exciting, we are future-proofing ourselves as a manufacturing facility to support that future.”
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