Work on a massive windfarm off the coast of a north-east town will begin in the summer, it was revealed last night.
Statoil’s £180million Hywind project was approved last year, and at a public exhibition in Peterhead last night, it was announced onshore work will begin in the summer.
Leif Delp, project director at the Norwegian firm, told the crowd that work to build the five floating wind turbines off the coast of the town would be complete by 2017.
“Statoil appreciates the warm reception, interest and support for the project we have received so far,” he said.
“It is important to establish good relationships.
“Planning permission was granted in July last year and we now have a marine licence. We will start the on-shore work this summer here in Peterhead with the drilling of the cable route from the shore to the service station.
“Offshore construction will start next spring. The final commissioning will be in late 2017, when it will be operating.”
The firm made the decision to construct the turbines off Peterhead after being granted approval by the Scottish Government in November last year.
The turbines, each 600ft tall, will be supplied by German firm Siemens.
Siemens helped the company prove the concept at its first full-scale floating find project, Hywind Demo, off the coast of Norway six years ago.
“The experience has been very positive – the performance has been excellent,” Mr Delp said.
Offshore specialist company MacGregor, part of the Finland headquartered Cargotec group, will be responsible for the delivery of the substructure mooring connection system for the pilot project’s five floating wind turbines.
The structures will be moored 15 miles off the coast of Peterhead in the North Sea, in water about 360ft deep.
Each will sit 574ft above sea level.
The cable from the turbines to the port will be buried across almost 5,000ft of the town, making landfall at George Road.
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