How it works
Wind, electromagnetism, and cutting-edge technology equal tremendous power
In 2024, the largest offshore wind farm in the world is our Hornsea 2, with 165 turbines spanning 462 sq km of the North Sea. With one blade rotation, each 200-metre-tall turbine can power a typical British household for nearly 40 hours.
At the core of wind technology is electromagnetism. As a wind turbine’s blades are turned by the wind, the magnets in the turbine rotate inside a coil of conductive wire, generating electrical energy. We bring this energy to shore via subsea cables.
As a developer we’re always working to improve turbine installation, foundation design, logistics, and digitalisation. Together with our suppliers’ work to improve components and wind turbines, this ensures ongoing innovation in wind energy.
With scale and innovation we’ve driven down the cost of offshore wind
Today, new-built offshore wind in Northwest Europe is cost-competitive with fossil fuels and nuclear
Levelised cost of electricity (LCoE)
EUR/MWh, FID 2023, 2023 prices, Northwestern Europe
CCGT = Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power plant
Growth
Market expansion: the world needs 2000 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050
Global offshore wind capacity grew by 286% from 2017 to 2023, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). But offshore wind needs to grow much faster.
Installed capacity, growth, and passion at Ørsted
Our passion for offshore wind has taken us far. We’ve installed 9.8 GW of offshore wind across Europe, the US and Asia – that’s more wind farms at sea than any company worldwide – and we’re aiming for 20-22 GW by 2030.
Typically, we divest 50% of our offshore wind farms to industrial and institutional partners and re-invest the capital in new renewables projects.
What’s next in offshore wind?
Some countries have a shortage of renewable energy sources, while others have more renewable energy than they can use. Like the European Commission, we believe that connecting offshore wind farms to two or more markets at the same time, essentially combining offshore wind farms and interconnectors into ‘offshore hybrid projects’, is a good idea. It will help Europe distribute renewable electricity among its Member States. Find out more in Making Hybrids Happen, our joint paper with Elia Group.
Our projects
Ørsted’s investment in offshore wind
See all our offshore wind farms, our locations, our installed capacity, and more
Project snapshot: giants in the North Sea
We’re currently building Germany’s biggest offshore wind farm, Borkum Riffgrund 3, in the German North Sea.
83 Siemens Gamesa 11-MW turbines
200-metre rotor diameter
913 MW total capacity
For this project we submitted the first zero-subsidy bid in an offshore wind auction by concluding long-term power purchase agreements with Covestro, Amazon, REWE Group, BASF, and Google – for a total of 686 MW.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about offshore wind energy
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How do offshore wind farms work?
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How much energy does offshore wind produce?
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What is the carbon footprint of offshore wind?
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How reliable is offshore wind energy?