Ørsted has started offshore construction of the Hornsea Project One wind farm, located off the Yorkshire coast, UK.

The first of 174 monopiles has been installed at the site, the company informed.

The installation is being carried out by GeoSea’s installation vessel, Innovation. It will carry up to four monopiles at a time, each one is 65 meters long, weighs around 800t and has a diameter of 8.1 meters.

In March Innovation will be joined by A2Sea’s vessel Sea Installer which will share the task of transition piece installation.

When fully operational in 2020, the wind farm will produce enough power for well over one million homes.

Duncan Clark, programme director for the project, said: “After years of planning and preparation it is fantastic to see the initial stages of offshore construction begin.

“Onshore alongside substation and cable installation, we are now developing the East Coast Hub which will serve as an operations and maintenance base for our existing wind farms in the area and both Hornsea Project One, and Project Two for which we took a final investment decision on last year.”