First turbine base fitted at Seagreen wind farm
The first turbine jacket foundation has been installed at Seagreen – Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest, fixed bottom offshore wind farm.
Two jackets operated by main contractor Seaway 7 made their way on a barge from Global Energy Group’s Port of Nigg in the Highlands of Scotland to the site 27km off the coast of Angus, arriving on Wednesday. It was met by the Saipem 7000 – the semisubmersible crane vessel which is used to lift each of the 2,000 tonne jackets.
The maiden voyage marked the start of works for the 1.1GW Seagreen Wind Farm project site, a £3bn joint venture between SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies. SSE Renewables is leading the development and construction of the project, supported by TotalEnergies, and will operate Seagreen on completion.
The installation campaign marks the first-ever gigawatt-scale deployment of suction caisson technology to fix offshore wind turbine foundations to the seabed.
Several barges will work in continuous rotation with each other carrying two jackets from Nigg to the offshore site before returning to Nigg for replenishment. Each journey from Nigg out to the site will take approximately 36 hours depending on the weather.
Each jacket foundation will support a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine.
First power is expected by early 2022 with the offshore wind farm expected to enter commercial operation in 2023. When complete, the 1.1GW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm in the outer Firth of Forth will be Scotland’s largest, and the world’s deepest, fixed bottom offshore wind farm.
Source and image: Scottish and Southern Energy
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