First giant turbine powered up at Scotland’s biggest offshore wind farm
The first of 114 giant turbines in the £3 billion Seagreen project, currently under construction 17 miles off the Angus coast in the North Sea, has been switched on this week.
The 1,075-megawatt wind farm, which has the world’s deepest fixed-bottom turbines, will generate five terawatt hours of renewable electricity each year once it becomes fully operational in early 2023 – enough to supply around 1.6 million homes, equivalent to two-thirds of all households in Scotland.
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Hide AdThe towering turbines, which are attached to the seabed in water up to 60m deep, stand 280m above the waves – almost as tall as the Shard, the UK’s tallest building, and more than double the height of highest point of the Forth Bridge.
Seagreen is a joint venture between Scottish-headquartered energy giant SSE Renewables and French oil, gas and renewables firm TotalEnergies.
Paul Cooley, director of global offshore wind for SSE Renewables, said: “Seagreen has achieved a number of key milestones to date, but to see this turbine turning in the North Sea and to have reached first power safely, is a fantastic achievement for everyone connected to the project.
“The project has already brought benefits to the local community, the UK supply chain and, once completed, Seagreen will make a significant contribution to Scotland and the UK’s ambitious renewable energy targets.”
Vincent Stoquart, senior vice president of renewables at TotalEnergies, said: “We are delighted to announce the start of power generation from Seagreen, our first offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea.
“This marks a new step in the development of TotalEnergies’ offshore activities capacity.
“This milestone will contribute directly to our objective of reaching 35 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity worldwide by 2025.”
Ministers have set a goal to create 11 gigawatts of new offshore wind in Scottish waters by 2030 to help end use of fossil fuels and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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Hide AdTo date there is 892 megawatts of operational projects, 4.9 gigawatts consented and 4.4 gigawatts in the pipeline.
Scotland’s national climate target is to reach net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the UK.
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