The Scottish energy company SSE has installed the world’s deepest wind turbine foundation at the Seagreen Wind Farm site, 27 kilometers off the coast of Angus, as part of Scotland’s biggest offshore windfarm.
The foundation (jacket) 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 foundation was erected at a depth of 58.6 meters, setting a new record for foundation installation.
The significant milestone also marks the installation of the 112th jacket at the 114-wind turbine wind farm as part of the £3bn Seagreen offshore wind farm, which it is developing in partnership with the French oil supermajor TotalEnergies. The final wind turbine foundation is expected to be installed later this week.
Each foundation will support a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine. The 1GW wind farm began generating electricity in August last year, 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.
The Seagreen wind farm is an important part of SSE’s £12.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Plan that can accelerate the UK’s path towards becoming a net zero economy. By the end of the decade, SSE plans to invest over £24bn in the UK 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,” said SSE CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies in the press release. “Thanks to a strong and stable policy framework, the UK has established itself as the world leader in 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.”
