Cromarty Firth plays its part as work on £2.6bn offshore wind farm seabed piling project begins
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A JACK-UP vessel which had been anchored in the Cromarty Firth has made the short voyage to the outer Moray Firth to begin work on seabed piling for the £2.6bn Moray East Offshore wind farm.
The Apollo installation vessel is owned by DEME Offshore, part of a world leader in dredging and marine engineering based in Belgium.
The wind farm will include 100 turbines with a capacity of 950MW - enough, it is claimed, to supply 950,000 homes.
The early stages of the offshore work involves the installation of sub-sea piles which are part of the jacket-based foundations on which the turbines will be installed.
Apollo, together with the first batch of piles, have arrived at the site and begun the first part of a two-year campaign to construct the total foundation systems for the turbines.
Apollo was being prepared at the Port of Cromarty Firth with a purpose-built piling template which will be used to instal the foundation piles of the wind farm.
Marcel Sunier, project director for the wind farm developer said: “After nine years of planning and development, this major milestone moves the project from concepts and plans on paper to the reality of steel in the ground offshore. I look forward to working with our partners to deliver safely and efficiently a major generating asset capable of supplying the equivalent of more than 950,000 households with low-cost, low-carbon electricity.”
The storage of the piles and the piling template are part of a deal worth over £1m to the Port of Cromarty Firth, including shipping revenues.
It will be followed next year by an 18-month contract directly with Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Ltd, worth £10m, and announced last November, to provide storage of wind turbine components including towers, blades and nacelles for pre-assembly and shipping to site.
Bob Buskie, chief executive of the Port of Cromarty Firth, said: “This is a major project and a significant contract for the Port and the Highland region. It shows the faith a business the size of DEME Group has in our storage and delivery capabilities.
“The Moray East Offshore wind farm development is of huge importance to both Scotland and the renewable energy sector. We are proud to be a part of that, helping to deliver clean energy to this wonderful part of the country. It shows the success of the Port’s diversification strategy, and the Firth’s proven track record of delivery in the offshore wind sector is now leading to further discussions at Government level which could attract additional investment to the region.
“In the future we hope our own development plans – especially for our new £31m Energy and Cruise Hub – will help open up the port and allow it to accommodate even more large-scale projects from across all sectors.”
Once the piles installation programme is completed, the specialist DP3 offshore installation vessel Orion will continue the work next year by installing the 103 jackets that form the other foundation components.
Other firms involved in the piling phase include Burntisland Fabrications Ltd, which is supplying 150 of the pin piles and PSG Marine & Logistics Ltd, which will manage the onshore handling works at the marshalling harbour.
The wind farm is expected to be operational by 2022.
