Over 50 jacket foundations have been installed at the 1,075 MW Seagreen wind farm offshore Scotland, according to the latest press release from SSE Renewables.
The three-legged jacket foundations, each weighing around 2,000 tonnes, will play a critical role in safely supporting the wind turbines during Seagreen’s 25-year operational lifespan.
Installation of the foundations is being carried out by Aberdeen-based Seaway 7 with the first jacket installed in October last year.
Besides being the largest Scottish wind farm, Seagreen is also the world’s deepest project of this kind using bottom-fixed foundations. A jacket foundation designated for the deepest location within the project site will be installed at 59 metres below sea level.
“Seeing the jacket installation process reach the halfway point demonstrates successful innovation with the largest ever deployment of foundations using suction caissons in offshore wind”, said John Hill , Seagreen’s Project Director.
The GBP 3 billion (approx. EUR 3.6 billion) project, located 27 kilometres off the coast of Angus in Scotland, will comprise 114 Vestas 10 MW turbines, all of which are expected to be operational in the first half of 2023.
The wind turbines are being transported from Vestas’ turbine marshalling base at Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool and installed at the site by Cadeler’s wind farm installation vessel, Wind Orca .
A couple of weeks ago, the offshore wind farm reached a significant milestone when the first turbine was commissioned and connected to the grid.
The 1.1 GW wind farm will be capable of generating around 5,000 GWh of renewable energy annually which is enough electricity to power more than 1.6 million UK homes.
SSE Renewables (49 per cent) is leading the development and construction of the Seagreen project on behalf of the partnership with TotalEnergies (51 per cent).