Danish offshore wind farm developer Ørsted has said it has reached a milestone in its expanding offshore wind business with the installation of its 1500th offshore wind turbine.
The turbine was installed at the Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea. It was the 25th turbine for the wind farm, and also the 1500th offshore wind turbine installed by Ørsted.
"Ørsted is the first offshore wind developer to reach this significant milestone. Before construction start at Borssele 1 & 2, Ørsted had already installed 6.8GW offshore wind capacity globally, which annually supplies green electricity for the equivalent of 6.6 million households. Ørsted is currently constructing 3GW of offshore wind and aims to have installed a total of 15GW by 2025 in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, UK and the US," the company said.
Ørsted installed its 500th turbine in 2012. This was achieved at Walney Offshore Wind Farm in the UK. The 1,000th followed four years later at the German Gode Wind 1 & 2 project.
Anders Lindberg, Executive Vice President, Offshore EPC & QHSE, says:"Offshore wind has matured at a rapid pace and can now be considered a cornerstone in the green transformation many places in the world. The 1,500 offshore wind turbines installed by Ørsted will contribute significantly to a greener future, but there's no doubt that the potential of offshore wind reaches far beyond that. Today, offshore wind power is not only a clean, but also a cost-competitive alternative to power generated by the burning of fossil fuels."
In 2019, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that offshore wind power, even if only confined to windy regions within 60km from shore, has the potential to globally generate up to 36,000 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year.
That would outstrip the current global electricity demand of 23,000 terawatt-hours. The IEA also concluded that offshore wind power could become the largest source of electricity generation in Europe by 2040. According to European Commission scenarios, Europe will need 450GW of offshore wind power to reach zero emissions by 2050. This is roughly 20 times more offshore wind power than has been installed today, the Danish company said.