The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, with almost 1.1GW production capacity, is one of the largest offshore wind farms of Scotland being developed in the UK North Sea.
The project is being developed by Inch Cape Offshore, a joint venture of Red Rock Power (50%) and ESB (50%) established in November 2020.
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The partners signed a Contract for Difference (CfD) for the project in the 2022 auction. The onshore enabling works were completed in October 2023 and the main civil engineering works started in early 2024.
The partners expect the financial close of the wind farm in 2024.
Inch Cape Project is expected to enter the start-up phase after 2026. Once operational, it will power 1.6 million Scottish homes fulfilling Scotland and the UK’s offshore wind targets.
Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm Location
The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm is being developed 15,000m (15km) off the Angus Coast in Scotland.
The wind farm site will cover an area of 150,000m2 (150km2) equivalent to the Island of Hoy in Orkney.
Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm History
The concept of the wind farm emerged in 2008 after which its site was selected by The Crown Estate of Scotland for investigation.
In the 2009 initial bidding round, the exclusivity rights for its development were awarded. The Scottish Ministers assented to develop the project site and four others after the Scottish Territorial Waters Strategic Environmental Assessment.
The wind farm was awarded a lease agreement in 2011 and an original consent in 2014. It was approved for a revised wind farm design and reduction in turbine numbers to up to 72 from 110 in spring 2019.
In summer 2020, the wind farm was approved to increase its installed capacity from around 700MW to almost 1GW.
Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm Offshore Infrastructure
The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm will consist of up to 72 V236-15MW Vestas’s wind turbine generators each up to 274m high. The turbines will be hosted on monopile and jacket foundations in 34-64m water depths.
The 110m long monopiles will be one of the largest in the world with a maximum diameter of 11.5m and the heaviest weighing 2,700 tonnes.
The wind turbines will be connected by up to 84 inter-array cables to the offshore substation. The 66kV/220kV offshore substation will be supported by a jacket foundation at the centre of the wind farm.
The offshore substation will also house an Offshore Transformer Module (OTM) consisting of two 545MVA main transformers, two 500kVA auxiliary transformers, two 66kV GIS container modules, and two 220kV GIS container modules.
The offshore substation will be connected to the transition joint pit via two 85km long 220kV subsea export cables.
Currently, the key fabrication works for the substation are being conducted at the Smulders Yard in Wallsend near Newcastle in the UK.
Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm Onshore Infrastructure
The subsea export cables will reach the Firth of Forth coastline in East Lothian and connect the onshore export cable.
The onshore cable will join the newly built 220/275kV onshore substation being developed on the brownfield Cockenzie Power Station site destroyed in 2014.
The substation will consist of two large transformers, harmonic filters, shunt reactors, static var compensators, and electrical equipment.
The construction work on the 2.6-hectare substation site commenced in 2023. The enabling works were completed in October 2023 and the main civil works are underway.
Operations
The wind farm turbines will produce renewable power supplied to the offshore substation via offshore array cables.
The offshore substation will export power via two export cables to the transition joint pit on the Firth of Forth coastline and the onshore substation.
The substation will transport power around 300m underground to the existing Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) 275/400kV substation in Cockenzie connected to the national transmission network.
Contractors Involved
Cadeler signed a firm contract with the joint venture of the project to install wind turbines at the wind farm. The installation of the turbines will commence in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Smulders (lemants) contracted Eastgate Engineering in July 2024 for the electrical and mechanical installation on the OTM.
The scope of the contract includes installation, containment, cabling, and terminations externally and internally.
Lloyds Register Engineering has been providing certification services to the project since April 2024.
Since 2010, Vysus Group has been providing geotechnical, geophysical site investigation, consultancy, and project management services to the project. Vysus was selected in 2023 for delivering survey support and related data services for the project.
The substructures (jacket foundations) were designed by Ramboll UK. This contract was awarded in April 2024.
The partners selected Pinsent Masons in March 2024 to provide long-term legal support for contracting and negotiating for the project.
For almost eight years, Eden Scott has been supporting the wind farm with long-term personnel and resource support.
K2 Management is selected as the technical advisor for the lender. The decommissioning scope and a marine study for crew transfer vessels were provided by Barrington Energy.
In January 2024, Careys was contracted by Siemens Energy to construct the onshore substation and site infrastructure and associated facilities.
Dajin Offshore Heavy Industry and Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Heavy Industry (GWSHI) signed capacity reservation agreements in January 2024 with the joint venture for XXL monopile foundations including supply, fabrication, and delivery.
Xodus Group was awarded the contract to develop the Supply Chain Plan (SCP) for the fourth Contracts for Difference Allocation Round (AR4) of the project in January 2024.
The designs of the wind turbine generator foundations and substructures of the project are being delivered by SLPE. SLPE was contracted for the project in January 2024.
In January 2024, JBA Consulting delivered its ForeCoast Marine software to install the offshore infrastructure of the wind farm.
To monitor the under-construction onshore substation site, the partners selected Innovair in December 2023 to conduct weekly drone flights in East Lothian.
Vestas was selected as the supplier of wind turbines for the wind farm in September 2022 including a 15-year Operations and Maintenance (O&M) agreement.
The Port of Dundee will act as the pre-assembly and marshalling site for the turbine blades, towers, and nacelles of the wind farm in August 2022.
Inch Cape Offshore selected the Montrose Port in February 2022 to act as a maintenance and future operation base for the wind farm.
The near-shore survey work at Cockenzie was conducted successfully by Fugro in January 2022.
In January 2019, Royal Boskalis Westminster signed an exclusive €200m Pre-Construction Agreement (PCA) for the project with Inch Cape Offshore.
The scope of the PCA includes engineering, supply, transportation, and installation of pre-piled jacket foundations, inter-array cables, and transportation and installation of the offshore substation.
Natural Power has been delivering fisheries liaison services for the project since 2018.
The ZephIR wind Lidar system for a three-year project to assess energy and forecast revenue for the wind farm was provided by SgurrEnergy (now Wood) in June 2018.
