North Hoyle
Wales' first offshore wind farm and the UK's first major offshore wind farm. Round 1 development by National Wind Power (npower).
Status
Operationallifecycle stage
Ownership
GUGreencoat UK Wind PLC — 100% ◆
Location
United KingdomIrish Sea
Technology
Capacity
60 MW ◆
Turbines
30 × 2 MW ◆
Model
Vestas V80 2-0 ◆
Foundation
Monopile ◇
Site & conditions
Site rights
Seabed rights held ∴
Origination
Crown Estate Round 1 · 2001 ·
Water depth
7–11 m ≈
Distance from shore
7.5 km ◆
Wind speed
9.1 m/s @ 100 m ≈
Revenue & grid
Offtake
Certificate ◆
Grid
Secured · 2003 ∅
Connection
Onshore substation at Rhyl ∅
Schedule
FID
Taken · date not recorded ∴
COD
2004 ◆
Project timeline & ownership verified milestones on the spine · ownership from Hafrok’s transactions record
Origination · 2001-04
Crown Estate Round 1
- Awarded to
- NWP Offshore (now RWE)
- Basis
- seabed award
From the auction results — the round that created the project.
Divestment · 2017-08
JP Morgan Asset Management → Schroders Greencoat 100%
- Stake
- 100%
- Consideration
- not disclosed
- Announced
- 2017-08
- Project stage
- operational
Greencoat UK Wind acquired North Hoyle (60 MW) together with Slieve Divena onshore wind farm (30 MW) from JP Morgan Asset Management for combined GBP 105m. North Hoyle was originally developed by innogy (RWE).
Evidence
From Hafrok’s transactions record
Dashed tick marks today (9 Sep 2026). The teal diamond on the spine is origination — the seabed award or round that created the project. Every other ownership event lives in the band below: one station per recorded deal, dated at its label, in deal order rather than to calendar scale. Secondary trades appear only at the interchanges; grey lines are parties whose entry or exit Hafrok’s record does not hold.
Announced-COD history: 2003-Q4→2004 · 2 recorded revisions · slipped +0.6 yr (first announced 2003-Q4)
Revenue & offtake the regime the project was built under
Offtake regime: ROC 1.0 ROCs/MWh
A built project sells its power under the contract or support regime it was financed with; it is not expected to bid into new government offtake rounds. Where the record does not yet name that regime, the row says so rather than guessing.
Installation how the build is going · from satellite counts and Hafrok’s registers
Satellite survey
the farm as it stands, counted from satellite radar images · built before the count began, so there is no build to chart
Satellite survey
Structures standing15≈30 turbines + 0 platforms expected · 15 fewer than expected — small or closely spaced early turbines fall below the radar threshold or merge into one return
Surveyed2026-09-01≈from 119 satellite passes
Built2003-04 → 2004offshore construction to start of operation, from the record
Hafrok counts the structures standing in the sea from satellite radar images (≈) and reads the count against the turbines and platforms on record. The farm was built before this count began, so the images show it complete; they cannot date its construction. Rows marked with a dot (·) come from Hafrok’s own registers.
Satellite image
Image taken2026-09-07≈Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar satellite, southbound pass
Farm covered100%≈the whole farm lies inside the image
Structures ringed15 confirmed · 0 not yet confirmed≈as counted on 2026-09-01 · the image is newer than the count, so a bright spot without a ring may be a structure not yet counted
Construction ports
PortPort of Mostyn ∅installation
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026, processed by ESA and by Microsoft Planetary Computer.
Latest satellite radar image · 2026-09-07
a radar picture, not a photograph: the sea is dark, steel is bright · black is beyond the edge of the image
confirmed structure (15)seen recently, not yet confirmed (0)probably a substation platform (a larger structure than a turbine; the register above has the facts)farm boundary
Sources & verification
12/18 fields verified · rests on 10 sources (7 primary) · ◆ 6 documents held
◆Verified≈Modelled◇Sourced∴Inferred⌁Convention○Unverified∅No source·Derived
Numbers are stable citation ids — grouped by source class, so they are not consecutive.
Regulator2
[4]
Marine Management Organisation2014◆ Review of Post-Consent Offshore Wind Far…
"North Hoyle 2003 Irish Sea - off Welsh coast/Liverpool Bay 1" [Table 2: Consented sites reviewed — Wind Farm, Generating Year, Location, Round] … "the issue of the North Hoyle licence in 2002" ...…
supportsConsentCoordinatesConsent granted
[10]
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026-05-06◆ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD…
“REPD Q1 2026 quarterly extract — Ref ID 2494: Site Name "North Hoyle", Development Status "Operational", Installed Capacity 60 MWelec, Operator "Greencoat (formerly Npower Renewables)"”
supportsRegister entry
Operator4
[1]
[2]
[3]
Renewable Energy World2003-11-25◆ First Major Offshore Wind Farm for the U…
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsFirst powerTurbinesModelDistance from shore
[8]
Institution of Civil Engineers (Proceedings of the ICE — Energy)2007-02
“Following a competitive bidding process, a design and build contract was awarded to the North Hoyle Consortium (comprising Vestas Celtic Wind Turbines and Mayflower Energy) in the autumn of 2002. Onsh…”
supportsOnshore constructionOffshore construction
Trade press4
[6]
offshoreWIND.biz2017-08◆ Greencoat to Acquire North Hoyle Offshor…
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsoperator
[7]
[9]
[11]
Power Technology
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsFoundation