Learn how a simple scientific principle combines with cutting-edge technology to capture the natural energy of the ocean breeze and power our homes and businesses.
In just a few decades, offshore wind has gone from being an untested idea to a mature and competitive technology produced at industrial scale.
In Denmark, where Ørsted is headquartered, offshore wind power has reduced carbon emissions and contributed to thousands of new jobs and unprecedented growth throughout the country.
Electrical energy can be generated by rotating magnets inside a coil of conductive wire. The big question is how to achieve that rotation.
In conventional power stations, fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil are burnt to heat water, producing high pressure steam that can drive a turbine and, in turn, an electrical generator.
Unfortunately, this also produces carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions, as well as relying on finite resources that need to be constantly extracted from underground and transported to the power station.
In a wind turbine, the rotation is achieved through the clean, natural, and ultimately unlimited power of the wind.
One rotation of a single turbine will generate enough electricity can power an average home for more than 19 hours.
Each wind turbine sends its power through cables down the tower and under the seabed to an offshore substation. Here the energy is stepped up to a higher voltage ready to send ashore via high-voltage cables. Higher voltage means less energy is lost in transmission.
On land, another substation adjusts the voltage again so that the electricity can be fed into the grid and distributed via power lines to the homes and business that need it.
