Hywind Scotland, the first floating wind farm in the world, has started to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid.
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, officially opens the wind farm later today.
The 30MW wind farm, operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar, is located 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire and will power approximately 20,000 households.
Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of the New Energy Solutions business area in Statoil, said: “Hywind can be used for water depths up to 800 meters, thus opening up areas that so far have been inaccessible for offshore wind.
“The learnings from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy.
“Through their government’s support to develop the Hywind Scotland project, the UK and Scotland are now at the forefront of the development of this exciting new technology. Statoil looks forward to exploring the next steps for floating offshore wind.”
In an opening event later in Aberdeen today the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will officially open the pioneering wind park.
The First Minister said: “I am delighted to open Hywind Scotland—the world’s first floating wind farm. Hywind will provide clean energy to over twenty thousand homes and will help us meet our ambitious climate change targets.”
“This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland. Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government’s commitment to the development of this technology and, coupled with Statoil’s Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world centre for energy innovation.”
The onshore operations and maintenance base for Hywind Scotland is located in Peterhead, while the operations center is located in Great Yarmouth.
Linked to the Hywind Scotland project Statoil and partner Masdar will also install Batwind, a 1MWh Lithium battery storage solution for offshore wind energy.
Sian Wilson of Crown Estate Scotland said: “It’s fantastic to see Hywind Scotland up and running.
“The project is a great success for the teams at Statoil and Masdar and for Scotland, where floating wind could really flourish due to our accessible deeper waters.
“We are committed to continuing our work to encourage floating offshore wind projects, which will in turn drive down costs, benefitting the whole sector—as well as the climate and consumers.”
In recent years, there have been significant cost reductions in both the onshore and bottom fixed offshore wind sectors. Floating wind is expected to follow a similar downward trajectory over the next decade, making it cost competitive with other renewable energy sources.
The Dudgeon offshore wind farm in the UK, also operated by Statoil has now been completed and is also in production.
In 2016 Statoil also acquired 50% of the Arkona offshore wind farm in Germany, which will deliver power in 2019.
Statoil also recently announced the acquisition of a 40% share in the construction ready 162MW Apodi solar asset in Brazil.
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