Ørsted has started building trench for Hornsea Three wind farm

And already workers on the Hornsea Three project have started carving a gash through the Norfolk countryside.

Stunning images captured by the areal photographer Mike Page have thrown the sheer scale of the works into sharp relief. 

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Another view of Hornsea Three trench near Weybourne (Image: Mike Page)

The photographs show the start of the route through the county from the north Norfolk coastline at a point west of Weybourne, which then wends its way southwards. 

The trench will eventually be 33 miles (53kms) long, connecting to the National Grid at the Norwich main 400-kilovolt substation, located between Swardeston and Stoke Holy Cross, south of Norwich.  

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Another view of Hornsea Three trench near Weybourne (Image: Mike Page)

The wind farm project is being built by Ørsted, a Danish state-owned company, at a cost of £8bn.

A project spokesman said: “We have commenced some early works with our principal contractor Volker Fitzpatrick whilst we work towards taking our final investment decision, which we expect to take by the end of the year. 

"This includes activities such as the set-up of construction site compounds, vegetation clearance along the route, pre-construction drainage and construction of haul roads along the cable route, as well as cable duct laying at the cable landfall location near Weyborrne.”

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Another view of Hornsea Three trench near Weybourne (Image: Mike Page)
The trench is so wide - around 262ft (80 metres) - because six separate trenches need to be dug spaced out to avoid the cables heating each other up, which could lead to damage.

A map of the Horsea Three cable path - from the wind farm area in the North Sea, and south through Norfolk to the substation just south of Norwich (Image: Newsquest)

Most of the cables will be laid into open trenches before being covered up again. 

At some points, breaks can be seen in the route. These are points below roads, railway lines, river valleys and other natural features, where engineers will use a process called horizontal directional drilling to tunnel underneath before threading the cables through. 

The wind farm itself will be built 75 miles (120km) off the coast, north-east of Norfolk.