Top of a wind turbine

Offshore wind power

From Denmark to the world


Since we inaugurated the first groundbreaking offshore wind farm in 1991, we have established ourselves as the leading developer of offshore wind power globally.


Offshore wind power has become an indispensable part of the green transition worldwide. The story begins in Denmark. There, offshore wind power has not only reduced carbon dioxide emissions, but also contributed to new jobs and growth throughout the country.

In a few decades, green energy from offshore wind turbines has gone from being an untested idea to today being a form of energy that is produced on a large scale.

The world's first offshore wind farm was built in 1991 in the shallow water outside Vindeby near Lolland. It consisted of eleven small wind turbines, which covered almost 2,200 households' energy consumption. The turbines installed today are significantly larger and more efficient. An individual turbine that is installed in our new wind farms today can produce more electricity than the whole of Vindeby could then. At that time, offshore wind power was a relatively expensive energy source, but costs have since fallen significantly.

The world's largest wind farm today is Hornsea 1, located 120 km east of the UK with a total capacity of 1,218 MW. The 174 wind turbines can cover the energy use of more than one million British households.

Offshore wind power can today be produced at prices that are competitive compared to coal, natural gas and nuclear power. Today, electricity from renewable energy is in most cases both the greenest and most economically sensible choice.

Innovation has driven down costs


Offshore wind power has become cheaper in a short time. Innovation and efficiency have reduced costs by more than 60% in the last decade alone.

Today, electricity is produced from offshore wind power at prices that are competitive compared to other types of power in northwestern Europe.

How offshore wind farms work?


We at Ørsted are building offshore wind farms all over the world to deliver green energy to millions of people. But how does it work?

In this film, we tell how it goes when wind is converted into electricity that we need in our everyday lives.

OUR OFFSHORE WIND FARMS

We’ve built the first and operate the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

Find out where our projects are located, how long they’ve been in operation, how big they are, and how much power they generate – including our new wind farms under construction or in development.