SSE’s subsidiary SSE Renewables and its partner TotalEnergies have achieved full operations at the 1.1GW Seagreen offshore wind farm in Scotland.
Estimated to have involved an investment of £3bn, the offshore wind farm is equipped with 114 Vestas V164-10.0 MW turbines, which are all producing clean, renewable energy to the UK’s power grid.
The first of the turbines was set up in December 2021, and power was generated by August 2022, while the last turbine was installed earlier this summer.
Currently, the electricity generated by Seagreen’s 114 turbines is transmitted from the North Sea location through three subsea cables to Carnoustie’s landfall. From there, it travels through 19km of underground cabling to reach a new onshore substation located near Dundee at Tealing.
The Seagreen offshore wind farm can power nearly 1.6 million homes annually apart from offsetting more than two million tonnes of carbon dioxide from power generated by fossil fuels every year.
Scotland First Minster Humza Yousaf said: “The Seagreen offshore windfarm is a fantastic example of the work being done to unleash Scotland’s renewable potential, as we seek to lead the world in the transition to net zero.
“This significant milestone for Seagreen is also significant for Scotland, taking us a step closer to creating a net zero energy system that delivers affordable, secure and clean energy.”
Located 27km off the Angus coast in the Firth of Forth, Seagreen has become Scotland’s largest wind farm. It is also claimed to be the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm.
The project’s deepest foundation was installed at a depth of 58.7m below sea level. Operations of the Seagreen offshore wind farm are managed from a specialised onshore operations and maintenance base at Montrose Port.
SSE Renewables spearheaded the development and construction of the Seagreen project, with the backing of TotalEnergies.
In the future, SSE Renewables will oversee its operation with continued support from TotalEnergies for whom Seagreen marks its biggest offshore wind farm in the world.
TotalEnergies has a 51% stake in the project while SSE Renewables owns the remaining 49% stake.
TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “This 1GW project is a new step in delivering our strategy of building a world-class, cost-competitive portfolio of renewable energy to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to our customers.
“It will positively contribute to achieving our Integrated Power 12% profitability target and our objective of reaching more than 100TWh of power generation by 2030.”
