The Port of Nigg, near Inverness in Scotland, is to be the marshalling, storage and logistics base for the jacket foundations for the 1075MW Seagreen offshore wind farm.
Seagreen’s foundation and array cable engineering, procurement, construction and installation contractor Seaway 7, on behalf of developers SSE Renewables and Total, appointed Scotland-based Global Energy Group (GEG) to run marshalling and logistics out of its Port of Nigg.
The 114 foundations destined for Seagreen will be constructed in Scotland’s Firth of Forth.
The contract will support 141 skilled jobs at Port of Nigg during peak construction, including work for 93 permanent roles already on-site as well as the creation of an additional 48 new roles at the port.
Recruitment for the new roles at Port of Nigg will begin in the coming months and opportunities will be advertised on Global Energy Group’s recruitment and social media channels.
Seagreen is located 27km off the coast of Angus in the North Sea firth and will be Scotland’s largest and deepest offshore wind farm when complete.
Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “I warmly welcome this announcement today.
“This contract provides a further boost to Scotland’s growing offshore renewables industry, sustaining existing jobs and delivering new, skilled jobs to the area and supporting Scotland’s green recovery from Covid-19 – a high priority of this government.
“It is a testament to the skills and expertise of all those who work at the Port of Nigg, and I know the team at Nigg are well-regarded globally for their knowledge in the offshore and marine energy sectors.”
“This, coupled with the launch of Crown Estate Scotland’s first ScotWind leasing round, marks a significant step as we push forward with our ambitious and World-leading plans to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.”
Wheelhouse said the Scottish government is committed to supporting the offshore renewables sector in Scotland and that its Offshore Wind Policy Statement and Sectoral Marine Plan for offshore wind are both geared towards the installation of 11GW of offshore wind generation capacity in Scottish waters by 2030.
“We are working hard to ensure that we support the supply chain to increase the contract value it secures from these future offshore wind opportunities and this latest contract win will help further enhance the Port of Nigg’s strong track record and capabilities,” he said.
Foundation installation at Seagreen is expected to commence in the second half of 2021 and last for 12 months.
The marshalling and logistics activity will see the delivery of Seagreen’s 114 foundation structures to the Highlands port via heavy transport vessels (HTVs), prior to shipping out to the North Sea for installation.
After the jackets are installed, Vestas V164-10 MW turbines will be positioned on each of the 114 bases.