DONG Becomes Lead Developer of UK's Offshore Wind Hornsea Zone

Denmark's DONG Energy has become the lead developer of Britain's Hornsea Zone offshore wind scheme after it bought the project rights to the second and third phases of the development Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services.

The Hornsea Zone, off the coast of northeast England, is being developed in phases to ultimately provide 4 gigawatts (GW) of renewable wind energy and has the potential to meet 40 percent of Britain's electricity demand.

DONG acquired the first phase of the development, known as Hornsea Project One, earlier this year, which will have a capacity of 1.2 GW.

DONG bought the project rights to the second and third phases on Friday which will have a combined capacity of 2.8 GW when completed.

"We have already invested around 6 billion pounds in the UK and the Hornsea Zone provides us with new exciting development opportunities, not least because of the sheer size of the project in terms of acreage as well as the high generation potential," Samuel Leupold, executive vice president at DONG Energy, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney)