The first monopile foundations for the Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm have arrived in the UK at Teesside.

Ørsted has taken delivery of six huge structures from manufacturer Haizea after travelling 960 nautical miles in two batches from Bilbao in Spain to Steel River Quay, Teesworks.

The monopiles are the first of a total of 197 to be produced for Hornsea 3, the world’s single largest offshore wind farm. Each weigh an average of 1,670 tonnes and are 90m in length. Their diameter at the top is 8m and at the bottom can be up to 11m.

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, CEO 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.”

Hornsea 3 will be located160 km off the Yorkshire coast and 120 km off the Norfolk coast and have a generating capacity of 2.9 GW – enough green energy to power more than three million UK homes. 

It will join its record-breaking sister projects Hornsea 1, which has a capacity of 1.2 GW, and Hornsea 2,  with a capacity of 1.3 GW. The two operational projects are capable of generating enough electricity to provide 2.5 million UK homes with green power.