SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies have completed installation of the first turbine at the 1100MW Seagreen wind farm off east Scotland.
The installation of the Vestas V164-10.0MW unit in the North Sea off the Scottish coast heralds the start of the installation phase which will see a total of 114 turbines installed across the project site.
This turbine is also the first V164-10.0MW machine installed globally, and at 10MW will be the most powerful turbine currently installed offshore in Europe once operational in terms of power rating.
Seagreen is Scotland’s largest renewable energy project and one of the biggest private investments in Scottish infrastructure.
Once completed, Seagreen will be capable of generating around 5000 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy a year.
That’s enough clean and sustainable electricity to power more than 1.6 million UK homes and save around 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, making a significant contribution to Scotland’s and the UK’s net zero targets.
Components for the first turbine to be installed, including blades, nacelles, and the supporting towers, were transported to site by installation contractor Cadeler’s giant windfarm installation vessel Wind Osprey from Vestas’ turbine marshalling base at Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool, North-East England.
The massive turbine was installed onto a giant 2000 tonne three-legged caisson jacket foundation fixed to the bottom of the North Sea floor.
Situated around 27km off the Angus coast, the £3bn wind farm is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (49%) and TotalEnergies (51%).
SSE Renewables is leading the development and construction of the Seagreen project, supported by TotalEnergies, and will operate Seagreen on completion for its expected 25-year lifetime.
SSE Renewables director of capital projects Paul Cooley said: “Seagreen is a project that’s always pushing boundaries and is full of firsts.
“Installing the first turbine at any offshore project is a really important milestone but when that turbine is also the first of its type to be installed anywhere in the world, it makes even more exciting.
“Once operational, the Vestas V164-10.0 MW turbines at Seagreen will be the most powerful offshore turbines in Europe, generating 1.1GW of installed renewable energy at what will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm installed on the world’s deepest fixed bottom turbines.
“As Scotland’s offshore wind champion, I’m truly proud that SSE Renewables is breaking these boundaries on Seagreen with our project and supply chain delivery partners.
“And I’m looking forward to working across our teams to complete project delivery through 2022 ahead of entering commercial operation in 2023.”
TotalEnergies head of offshore wind for the UK Philippe de Cacqueray said: “TotalEnergies is very pleased to see the first turbine installed on the Seagreen project.
“As a company that is working towards net-zero and investing in Scotland in order to reach that ambition, reaching this important milestone shows that we are making good progress.
“By the end of next year we expect that all of Seagreen’s turbines will be in place, ready to start providing homes and businesses across the country with renewable power.”
The Seagreen turbine installation programme is running in parallel with the ongoing foundation installation campaign, which is being run by Seaway7 out of Scotland’s Port of Nigg.
First power is expected by early next year with the offshore wind farm expected to enter commercial operation in 2023.
When complete, the project in the outer Firth of Forth will be Scotland’s largest, and the world’s deepest, fixed bottom offshore wind farm.