A set of huge turbine jackets have arrived for construction of Moray East, one of Scotland’s largest offshore windfarms.
The 10 jackets each stand between 75- 80metres high and have arrived at Global Energy Group’s Port of Nigg base via OHT’s “Hawk” vessel – a 226metre-long heavy transport ship.
They will be offloaded at Nigg and prepared for installation and then taken out by the Seajacks Scylla vessel 15miles from shore in the Moray Firth
Moray East is a 100-turbine wind development, due to be operational in 2022.
Once complete, it will generate enough energy to power around 950,000 homes in Scotland.
Moray East Offshore Windfarm (East), the firm behind the project, hired Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT) for the logistics.
Meanwhile, a consortium of Deme and Smulders are designing, manufacturing and installing the jackets, and Global Energy has been subcontracted to provide facilities at the Port of Nigg to support the installation work.
Nine of the structures are for turbines, while the other is an offshore substation platform.
Each weighs around 1,000 tonnes, according to Smulders.
A “major portion” of the fabrication work is being done by Smulders in the UK, supported by fabrication in Europe.
Lamprell Group is also developing jackets out of its Dubai yard.
Project director Marcel Sunier said: “The arrival of these impressive structures at the Port of Nigg gives a striking understanding of the scale of the project which is being undertaken in the Moray Firth and the benefit this brings to the local community.
“Because we are able to work at such large scale that we have been able to make significant cost reductions in the cost of produced power.
“The Moray East offshore wind farm will make a major contribution to the post Covid recovery producing plentiful low-cost, low carbon power.”
The Port of Nigg and the Port of Cromarty Firth are providing the onshore facilities from which the offshore installation will be carried out.
Moray East’s substations will be connected via underground onshore cables at Inverboyndie then on to a substation under construction at New Deer, making power available to the National Grid.
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