The company behind the world’s first floating windfarm, off Peterhead, has revealed it is looking at further sites around the Scottish coastline.
Norwegian government-owned Statoil believes the success of the Hywind Scotland project could lead to others being placed in
areas of deeper water, including in the north Atlantic.
According to Calum Iain MacIver, director of development at Western Isles Council, the prospect of further developments “opens up opportunities for the seas around the Outer Hebrides, where the wind resource is possibly unparalleled”.
Mr MacIver said: “Marine Scotland has already identified areas of search for offshore wind to the north and west of the Outer Hebrides and Statoil are reviewing these areas as candidates for future Hywind deployment.”
He added: “We continue to engage with Statoil and discuss the potential of the Hebrides as a base for future operations.
“There is a long way to go, but I think the company see real potential in and around the Hebrides.”
A Statoil spokeswoman said: “The lessons from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy. We are looking for new opportunities globally and there is a huge potential in many areas around the world for floating windfarms.”
She added that an advantage of the technology was lower fabrication costs, while it is also possible to site turbines in depths of up to about 2,600ft.
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