Vodafone and telco provider Vilicom have collaborated to bring a 4G mobile network to the world’s largest operational offshore wind farm 50 miles off the Yorkshire coast.
Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm was recently completed by Danish energy company Ørsted, which covers nearly 300 square miles and can power over 1.4 million UK homes.
It went live earlier this year, and is now capable of supporting Vodafone’s 4G mobile connectivity across the entire site for hundreds of staff to access for work or personal use.
Vilicom chief executive Sean Keating said: “At Vilicom we’re delighted to play our part in a cleaner, greener future. The completion of this network is a huge achievement for Vilicom, Vodafone and Ørsted teams.
“Not only have we overcome the unique set of challenges involved in deploying a mobile network in the middle of the North Sea, but we have also accomplished this feat of engineering during a pandemic, with difficult operational circumstances.”
Nick Gliddon, Vodafone UK business director added: “Building a complete mobile infrastructure on an offshore wind farm is a technical challenge, but I’m delighted we’re able to provide the connectivity that Ørsted’s Hornsea 2 needs to connect to the outside world and be efficiently managed.
“It is testament to the great collaboration between us and Vilicom.”
