The installation of the wind turbines at Kincardine, the “world’s largest” floating offshore wind farm, was recently completed. This milestone also marks the start of the long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed in 2018 between Norwegian state energy company Starkraft and Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Ltd (KOWL).
Cobra Group’s Kincardine Offshore Windfarm is a six-turbine, 50 MW facility located in waters off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. According to Statkraft, the 50 MW Kincardine floating offshore wind farm will provide over 200,000 MWh of clean electricity to the Scottish grid each year, enough to power over 50,000 homes.
The power purchase agreement will see Statkraft buy all electrical output from the floating wind project with a guaranteed minimum price per MWh until 2029.
“This is the first floating project that Statkraft has been involved in, and we expect more to follow; a key technology that could help countries around the world achieve their renewable energy targets,” said John Puddephatt, Manager Long Term PPA Origination at Statkraft.
Located approximately 15km off the southeast coast of Aberdeenshire, in northeast Scotland, the floating offshore wind farm consists of a 2 MW Vestas turbine and five 9.5 MW Vestas turbines. The 2 MW turbine has been operating at the site since October 2018. It sits in water depths ranging between 60 meters to 80 meters.
Statkraft is one of the major companies involved in floating offshore wind projects. Earlier this month, oil and gas major Shell and Korean offshore wind developer CoensHexicon have established a joint venture called MunmuBaram that aims to develop a massive 1.4-gigawatt floating offshore wind farm in waters off South Korea.
Norway’s Wind Catching Systems (WCS) has introduced its groundbreaking Wind Catching technology this year. The single floating offshore Windcatcher unit can generate five times the annual energy production of the world’s biggest single turbines and can power 80,000 European homes.
