Port of Cromarty Firth Secures Moray West Marshalling Deal

Moray Offshore Windfarm West has selected the Port of Cromarty Firth (POCF) as the location for marshalling all 62 monopiles for the 882 MW wind project offshore Scotland.

Moray West signed a multi-million-pound contract with POCF to use the recently expanded facilities at Invergordon for this scope.

The monopiles will start to arrive in Invergordon in the second quarter of 2023 with installation complete approximately one year later.

The monopiles, which will be offloaded using self-propelled modular transporters, are some of the largest used in the offshore wind sector to date with weights up to just under 2,000 tonnes.

“We are delighted that Invergordon is lined up to host the Moray West monopiles, utilising the newly created capacity at the port and providing key confidence to underpin further investments to support the growing sector. The ambitious delivery programme will mean that in less than a year Invergordon will play a key role in the offshore construction phase of Moray West”, said Pete Geddes, EPC Director for Ocean Winds in the UK with responsibility for Moray West.

The agreement to host Moray West should contribute to the pipeline of offshore wind projects using POCF facilities in the Cromarty Firth.

With two new berths and a 372-metre quayside, POCF’s Quay West development has one of the largest port laydown facilities of its kind in the UK, at more than 90,000 square metres, according to the press release.

“This is a very significant contract both for us and the supply chain in the area and we are delighted Ocean Winds has chosen Port of Cromarty Firth as the marshalling base for this project. It will be the first scope of work of this scale using the whole of the Port’s extensive new Quay West facility”, said Bob Buskie, CEO of POCF.

“Ocean Winds, who we worked with on the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm development, is a valued customer and we look forward to continuing to support them on their second project in the Moray Firth.”

The 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm is located in the outer Moray Firth off Inverness.

The project is being developed by Ocean Winds, a 50-50 joint venture formed by EDP Renewables and ENGIE. A small minority stake is held by UAB Ignitis renewables.

It will consist of 60 wind turbines, each with a generating capacity of 14.7 megawatts. Once operational, the Scottish wind farm is expected to meet the power requirements of about 650,000 households in Scotland for the next 25 years and thereby contribute to the county’s targets of achieving net zero emissions by 2045.

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