DONG Energy Awards ABS Group Certification Contract for Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm

Hornsea One will be the world's first offshore wind farm to exceed 1,000 MW in capacity.

(Houston) ABS Group Ltd. (ABS Group), headquartered in England and a subsidiary of ABS Group of Companies, Inc., a leading provider of project certification and quality assurance services for offshore wind assets, has received a contract to provide project certification services from DONG Energy Wind Power A/S (DONG Energy) for the planned Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Project One in the U.K.

DONG Energy is developing the Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Project One, which is expected to be fully commissioned and in operation by 2020. With a capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW), Hornsea will be the world's first offshore wind farm to exceed 1,000 MW in capacity. The wind farm project development is located 120 km off the Yorkshire coast and covers approximately 407 square kilometers.

ABS Group's certification scope will cover Quality Assurance/Quality Control document review and manufacturing inspection of three offshore substations (OSS) and one reactive compensation substation (RCS), including the topsides and foundations. Inspections will be carried out in several European countries.

"We are proud to support DONG Energy on this new record size offshore wind farm project," says Torsten Muuss, Director of Renewable Energy for ABS Group. "Due to the long distance from shore, an RCS – in addition to the OSS – will be needed approximately halfway along the cable route to compensate the reactive losses in the export cable. These three OSS and one RCS will be manufactured in a very short time of about two years, and ABS Group will support DONG Energy to meet this timeline and the quality standards and requirements by mobilizing, in total, about 30 inspectors and engineers in five European countries.

"The development of these large offshore wind farms will benefit the offshore wind industry through more cost-effective and adaptable projects."

Learn more about ABS Group's solutions for the Power and Energy market sector.

About DONG Energy

DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe, headquartered in Denmark. Around 6,700 ambitious employees, including over 700 in the UK, are engaged in developing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms; generating power and heat from our power stations; providing energy to residential and business customers on a daily basis; and producing oil and gas. Group revenue was DKK 71bn (EUR 9.5bn) in 2015. For further information, see www.dongenergy.co.uk or follow us @DONGEnergyUK on Twitter.

About ABS Group

ABS Group of Companies, Inc. (ABS Group) and its operating subsidiaries provide risk management solutions and certification services worldwide that help clients address the safety, integrity, quality and environmental efficiency of critical assets and operations. Headquartered in Spring, Texas, ABS Group operates with more than 1200 professionals across the globe, serving the marine and offshore, oil, gas and chemical, government, power and energy and industrial sectors. ABS Group is a subsidiary of ABS (www.eagle.org), a leading marine and offshore classification society.