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The fourth stage of a project at Hornsea windfarm in Yorkshire has been cancelled. The intention was to build enough wind turbines to power 1 million homes in the UK.
Ørsted, the world’s biggest wind power developer, has cancelled plans for project Hornsea 4. Based in Yorkshire, Hornsea 4 would have installed enough wind turbines at the windfarm site to power over 1 million homes.
The Danish company said the project was no longer viable due to a huge increase in production costs across the industry’s global supply chain. Ørsted previously won the contract last year and was part of the government initiatives to meet its green energy targets.
One of the promises by the UK was to quadruple its offshore wind capacity by 2030. Hornsea 4 was to be the backbone of this goal, providing 180 turbines that would generate 2.4 gigawatts of power.
According to The Guardian, this latest development is just one of many that have recently fallen apart due to spiralling costs, inflation and interest rates. Ørsted abandoned two other offshore wind projects last year, for example, over in the US. It has also delayed a third project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut to 2026.
Elsewhere, a Swedish energy company called Vattenfall halted work on its Norfolk Boreas windfarm in the North Sea, citing financial redundancy as the primary reason. Put simply, the project was no longer able to make money.
The UK government still has ambitious plans for clean energy. Alongside offshore windfarms, it hopes to triple its solar power and double its onshore wind capabilities.
By 2030 it says that fossil fuel sources such as gas plants will make up only 5% of the UK’s electricity generation.
