The worlds largest operating offshore wind farm the Orsted-run Hornsea 1 will pay 4.5m ($5.9m) over its part in a massive blackout that left more than a million people without power last summer.<\/p>\n
The 1.2GW Hornsea 1 off eastern England will pay out after dropping off the network as part of a wider sequence of failures that hit the UK system in August.<\/p>\n
Along with a simultaneous disconnection by a gas-fired plant whose operator RWE will pay the same sum the event, triggered by a lightning strike on a transmission line, caused chaos to transport and other critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n
UK energy regulator Ofgem, which launched a probe into the blackout, said: Consumers and businesses rely on generators and network companies to provide a secure and stable power supply. August 9 showed how much disruption and distress is caused to consumers across the UK when this does not happen.<\/p>\n
That is why it is right that companies that were unable to keep generating have paid into our consumer redress fund.<\/p>\n
The Danish offshore wind giant said in a statement sent to Recharge: Together with every organisation involved with the UK electricity system, we work hard to provide a reliable, resilient service and take any interruption very seriously. The power outage on August 9 was caused by an extremely rare sequence of events, involving a number of parties, and the issue we experienced at Hornsea 1 was quickly resolved.<\/p>\n
However, in recognition of our role in the outage, we have offered to make a voluntary contribution to Ofgems redress fund. We have co-operated with Ofgem throughout their investigations and conducted a thorough internal review of the events in order to prevent a situation like this from happening again. <\/p>\n
We will continue to work hard to bring clean, carbon free electricity to millions of homes across the UK.<\/p>\n
Hornsea 1 was at the time of the blackout still under construction and only partly exporting power from its 7MW Siemens Gamesa turbines, the last of which was installed in October.<\/p>\n
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World's largest offshore wind farm to pay millions after massive blackout - Recharge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The worlds largest operating offshore wind farm the Orsted-run Hornsea 1 will pay 4.5m ($5.9m) over its part in a massive blackout that left more than a million people without power last summer. Continue reading