The world’s deepest wind turbine foundation has been installed at what will be Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm – Seagreen – off the coast of Angus.
On Friday, the foundation (or ‘jacket’ as is the industry term) was transported to the project site on a barge operated by main contractor Seaway 7 where it was met by the Saipem 7000 – the semisubmersible crane vessel which is used to lift each of the 2,000-tonne turbine foundations into place.
The installation of the jacket means Seagreen has now topped its own record from October 2022, when a previous foundation was installed at a depth of 57.4 meters (approximately 188 feet). The deepest foundation has been installed at a depth of 58.6 meters.
The significant milestone also marks the installation of the 112th jacket at the 114-wind turbine wind farm which is a £3bn joint venture between SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies. The final wind turbine foundation is expected to be installed later this week.
Each foundation will support a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine. First power was achieved in August 2022 with the offshore wind farm expected to enter commercial operation later this year.
When complete, the 1.1GW wind farm will be capable of generating around 5,000 GWh of renewable energy annually which is enough clean, secure, sustainable electricity to power more than 1.6m UK homes.
Alistair Phillips-Davies, chief executive of SSE Renewables, commented on the achievement:
“Seagreen is an important part of SSE’s £12.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Plan, through which we’re investing £7m a day in critical low-carbon infrastructure that will help the UK achieve energy independence. By the end of the decade, we have plans to invest over £24bn in Britain alone.
“This is not only a significant step on the road to project completion but also shows how we continue to innovate and push the boundaries of technology to power change. Everyone involved in the project can be very proud of their contribution.
“Thanks to a strong and stable policy framework, the UK has established itself as the world leader on offshore wind and SSE Renewables is building more offshore wind than anyone on the planet. But we want to do more and now is the time to accelerate if we are to achieve the UK’s target of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.”