Banchory-based engineering firm Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS) has clinched a contract worth £1million-plus for the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm project.
ESS said it would use its SCAR2 Seabed System to clear boulders from the seabed at the site, eight miles off the Caithness coast, in the Outer Moray Firth.
Siem Offshore Contractors has awarded ESS the contract.
Beatrice, an 84 turbine wind farm, is expected to power about 450,000 homes and is due to be operational in 2019.
It is a joint venture by SSE, with a 40% share, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on 35% and Chinese power generation company SDIC with 25%.
ESS started out as a subsea technology firm working in the oil and gas sector, but has since expanded into renewables.
In recent times it has been working on seabed clearance and trenching projects in the Baltic Sea.
ESS commercial director Keith McDermott said: “We’ve had a busy start to 2017 with mobilisation on a major interconnector project in the North Sea followed by this boulder-clearing workscope for Siem Offshore Contractors.
“With experience of similar clearance and trenching workscopes on Race Bank and Westermost Rough windfarms offshore the east coast of England, and a number of projects in the Baltic Sea, our track record in renewables is well-established.
“We have a strong relationship with Siem Offshore Contractors, dating back to a boulder clearing and trenching workscope on the EnBW Baltic 2 offshore wind farm, and we are delighted to be working with them again.”
Mr McDermott also said ESS hoped to attract more customers in Asia and the US, where demand for offshore wind power is starting to increase.