Ørsted leads the way
Ørsted is the global leader in offshore wind. We construct and operate offshore wind farms in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Taiwan, the UK, and the US. And it’s our aspiration to bring offshore wind energy to even more markets. Our ambition is to have installed 20-22 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Find out more about the size, scale, and location of our offshore wind farms
Since pioneering the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991, we’ve built more wind farms at sea than any other company worldwide, and broken the record for the largest wind farm in the world several times over. We have by far the largest installed capacity, the deepest technical skills, and the largest number of new projects among offshore wind developers.
Gain access to our operational and meteorological offshore wind farm data
Ørsted is at the forefront of offshore wind innovation
The technology we use in our offshore wind farms today would have been almost unimaginable when we built the world’s first offshore wind farm in Vindeby in 1991.
Each of our largest 11 MW turbines with a rotor diameter of 200 metres produces more than twice as much energy as all 11 of Vindeby’s turbines combined. In just one rotation of their blades, they can produce enough power to cover a typical British household’s power consumption for nearly 40 hours.
Innovation at every stage
But technological progress and wind energy innovation go beyond our suppliers’ component and wind turbine innovations. It’s also about Ørsted as a developer constantly improving installation methods, foundation designs, logistics and digitalisation in the offshore wind industry.
All these things combined make possible the construction of offshore wind farms on an unprecedented scale – wind farms like Borssele 1 & 2 in the Netherlands or Hornsea 2 in the UK, which will supply clean electricity to millions of households and businesses for years to come.
Find out how offshore wind turbines work
Reducing offshore costs
Offshore wind used to be very expensive to construct and operate. But through technological innovation, we successfully brought the cost down. In 2012, we set an ambitious target of reaching a price of 100 EUR per MWh in new offshore wind projects awarded by 2020. In close cooperation with our suppliers, we reached this goal four years ahead of time in 2016.
The cost of offshore wind energy has continued to decrease. Today, just like onshore wind and solar energy, offshore wind energy is cheaper per megawatt hour than energy generated by newly-built fossil fuel power stations in northwest Europe.
And our pursuit of technological progress is ongoing as we seek to make offshore wind energy even more competitive.
Partnering for success
Without our partnership model, we wouldn’t be able to maintain the pace at which we’re building out offshore wind. Typically, we divest 50 % of each of our offshore wind farms to industrial and institutional partners as a way to unlock the capital needed to invest in new renewables projects.
