Seagreen’s North Sea turbines start to turn at last
A £3 billion wind farm project off the Scottish coast that has been 12 years in the making has begun generating power after the first four turbines in the development started turning.
The owners of the Seagreen project, the FTSE 100-listed energy giant SSE and France’s Total, said yesterday that the first turbine was connected to the grid early on Monday morning. Four were operating about 17 miles off the Angus coast in the North Sea, each capable of producing 10 megawatts. Seagreen plans to install 114 in total, which will make the development Scotland’s biggest offshore wind farm with a capacity for almost 1.1 gigawatts of electricity. Forty turbines have been installed so far.
The Seagreen project was awarded development rights for the area from the Crown Estate in 2010. Seagreen faced a setback when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds raised concerns that the turbines would kill protected seabirds.
The entire wind farm is expected to be operational in the first half of next year, when it will be generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1.6 million homes.
Total, the oil and gas group, took a controlling stake in Seagreen two years ago when it struck a deal to buy a 51 per cent interest in the project from SSE. Oil companies such as Total face mounting pressure to move away from fossil fuels into renewables.
SSE, based in Perth, is focused on energy networks and its renewables arm, which encompasses onshore and offshore wind farms and hydro power. It also runs gas-fired plants and gas storage sites.
Paul Cooley, the director of global offshore wind for SSE’s renewables business, said: “Seagreen has achieved a number of key milestones to date but to see this turbine turning in the North Sea and to have reached first power safely, is a fantastic achievement for everyone connected to the project.”
