Unlike conventional offshore wind farms that put turbines on platforms anchored to the seabed, like oil rigs, the new project-known as Hywind Scotland-will have its turbines tethered to the seafloor via a three-point mooring system.
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The turbines will be connected to each other with an inter-array of cables, while an export cable will transport electricity from the floating farm to the shore at Peterhead.
Construction could start as early as next year, with final commissioning in 2017, Statoil said.
The world’s largest floating offshore wind development will be installed about 25 km off the coast of Peterhead, northeastern Scotland, according to a statement from the Scottish government.
“We are proud to develop this unique project in Scotland, in a region that has optimal wind conditions, a strong supply chain within oil and gas and supportive public policies”.
The first Hywind floating wind turbine in Norwegian waters.
The Carbon Trust, a company working in a non-profit way to usher in a low-carbon economy, said a floating wind facility could cuts costs by up to $150 per megawatt when used in commercial operations.
Consisting of five, 6 MW floating turbines, Hywind is still pretty minuscule compared to the 10.6GW of offshore wind that the United Kingdom already has either operating or in the pipeline, but the fact that these turbines will operate in waters exceeding 100 meters in depth should give you a few idea of why this matters. Scheduled to begin in 2106, the pilot project is small in scale and created to demonstrate the feasibility of using floating wind farms as a renewable energy source.
He added: “This announcement is fantastic news for Scotland’s renewables industry as a whole, but in particular our growing offshore wind supply chain”.
Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, welcoming the development, said: “Successfully developing floating turbines could enable Scotland to secure even more clean energy from offshore wind in the future”.
Swedish floating wind developer Hexicon also threw its support behind the cost competitiveness of floating offshore developments.
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John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, welcomed the new project.
