Offshore Wind Trailblazer Nears the End of the Road

Repsol Sinopec Resources UK has announced plans to dismantle the 10MW Beatrice Demonstrator Wind Farm project located some 22 kilometres from the Scottish coastline in the outer Moray Firth.

The two-turbine wind farm is scheduled to be removed along with other infrastructure on the Beatrice oil field which ceased production in March 2015.

Repsol Sinopec said that there was no potential for the two 5MW turbines to  be incorporated into either of the two wind farms being proposed for the outer Moray Firth – the 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm or the 1,116MW wind farm being developed by Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Repsol Nuevas energias UK Limited.

The dismantling works are expected to start between 2024 and 2027.

The Beatrice Demonstrator was built in 2007 to examine the feasibility of building a commercial wind farm in deep water at a reasonable distance from the shore.

The wind farm comprises two 5MW Senvion turbines supported on piled jacket substructures, which sit in around 45 metres of water. The substructures were designed by Amec Oil & Gas, based on the concept developed by OWEC Tower AS by Burntisland Fabrications.

The turbines were installed in two campaigns – the first in August 2006 and the second in July 2007.

When the first turbine was installed at Beatrice, it became the largest offshore wind turbine in the world; the first jacket substructure; the first to be installed in a single lift from a floating vessel; and the first wind turbine in international waters, furthest from shore and in the deepest water.