SSE Renewables and partner TotalEnergies has announced the first power generation from their £3bn Seagreen offshore wind farm located 27km off the coast of Angus in Scotland.
The first Vestas turbine or a total of 114 was commissioned and connected to the grid on Monday morning, with the 1,075MW wind far expected to be fully operational in the first half of 2023.
Seagreen will become Scotland's largest offshore wind farm and the world's deepest fixed bottom wind farm, with its deepest foundation due to be installed at 59 metres below sea level in December.
When fully operational, the site will produce around 5 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable electricity per year, enough to power the equivalent of 1.6m households.
"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," said Paul Cooley, director of global offshore wind for SSE Renewables.
In Association with
"The project has already brought benefits to the local community, the UK supply chain and, once completed, Seagreen will make a significant contribution to Scotland and the UK’s ambitious renewable energy targets.”
TotalEnergies entered into an agreement with SSE Renewables to acquire a 51% stake in the Seagreen project in June 2020.
"We are delighted to announce the start of power generation from Seagreen, our first offshore wind farm in the UK North Sea. This marks a new step in the development of TotalEnergies’ offshore activities capacity," said Vincent Stoquart, VP of renewables at TotalEnergies.
"This milestone will contribute directly to our objective of reaching 35 GW of renewable electricity capacity worldwide by 2025.”
SSE Renewable in June submitted an application for Maritime Area Consent for the second phase of its €2.5bn Arklow Bank offshore wind farm off the coast of Co Wicklow, which is expected to be completed in 2029 and generate power for 850,000 homes.
It has also received planning permission to develop onshore grid infrastructure for the Arklow Bank turnbines.
Photo: SSE Renewables' Seagreen wind farm off the Scottish coast.
