SSE Renewables announced that the deepest wind turbine foundation in the world to date has been installed at the 1.1GW Seagreen offshore wind farm in Scotland.
The turbine foundation has been put in place at a depth of 58.6m, surpassing the previous record of 57.4m set by the same offshore wind farm project in October 2022.
The deepest offshore foundation represents the installation of the 112th jacket at the Scottish offshore wind project.
Estimated to involve an investment of £3bn, the Seagreen offshore wind farm features 114 turbines. The project is anticipated to commence commercial operation later this year.
SSE Renewables said that the 112th wind turbine foundation was transported to the project site on a barge operated by Seaway 7.
Saipem 7000, a semisubmersible crane vessel, is being engaged for lifting each of the 2,000-tonne turbine foundations into place.
Scotland Energy Security and Net Zero Minister of State Graham Stuart said: “As I saw first-hand last week, Seagreen is making history with the world’s deepest wind turbine foundation which, once operational, will play an invaluable role in powering more of Britain from Britain.”
Located 27km from the coast of Angus in the North Sea, the Seagreen offshore wind farm is owned by a joint venture (JV) of TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables.
The final wind turbine foundation is anticipated to be put in place later this week. Each of the wind turbine foundations will host a Vestas V164-10 MW turbine.
The Seagreen offshore wind farm produced its first power following the commissioning of the first wind turbine in August 2022.
Once fully operational, the Seagreen project is anticipated to produce nearly 5,000GWh of clean energy per annum, which is sufficient to power over 1.6 million households in the UK.
SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies said: “Seagreen is an important part of SSE’s £12.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Plan, through which we’re investing £7m a day in critical low-carbon infrastructure that will help the UK achieve energy independence.
“By the end of the decade, we have plans to invest over £24bn in Britain alone.”
