Forth Ports to invest £50m in Port of Leith to deliver Inch Cape wind farm

Forth Ports will make a £50-million private investment in infrastructure at the Port of Leith after securing the foundation marshalling contract for the 1.1GW Inch Cape offshore wind farm.

This investment aims to enhance the port’s marine access, infrastructure and vessel assets and includes plant and equipment that will be used to deliver Inch Cape.

It will also create up to 50 new and upskilled green energy jobs to support the project.

The contract will see Forth Projects – Forth Ports’ in-house logistics division – handle Inch Cape’s monopile and jacket foundations at the Port of Leith.

Set to be fabricated by Chinese companies Dajin Offshore Heavy Industry and Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Heavy Industry (GWSHI), the monopiles are expected to be delivered in late 2025.

The monopiles will have maximum outer diameters of 11.5 metres and a maximum length of 110m, with each weighing up to 2,700 tonnes.

Forth Ports’ investment will include purchasing equipment needed to physically move the large components and preparing staging grounds to store them.

In addition, the Port of Leith will develop a series of links and bridges to connect vessels to the quayside to move components on and off.

© Supplied by Forth Ports

The developers of Inch Cape, ESB and Red Rock Renewables, previously contracted the Port of Dundee to provide pre-assembly for the turbine blades, towers and nacelles, also expected to take place in 2025.

The project is set to use a total of 72 turbines Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbines.

Inch Cape will be based around 9.3 miles (15km) off the Angus coast. Both Leith and Dundee were chosen due to their proximity to the project, along with having the storage and assembly capacity to handle the components.

First power at Inch Cape is expected in 2026, ahead of commissioning in 2027.

The £50m investment in the Port of Leith is the second phase of delivery of the vision behind the 175-acre Leith Renewables Hub, pushing the investment to over £100m.

Forth Ports CEO Stuart Wallace said: “We’re going to see quite a dramatic change here in the skyline of Leith as you can have quite large vessels sitting at that berth over a number of days discharging the inbound components.”

Private investment

The investment comes on the back of last week’s announcement in the Scottish government’s budget that it will provide £150m of investment in the country’s offshore wind sector.

Cabinet secretary for finance Shona Robison said that this will help unlock £1.5 billion of private investment.

Visiting the Port of Leith, Scottish deputy first minister Kate Forbes said: “Investment in key sectors such as Scotland’s ports can reap rewards. This is why the Scottish budget commits £150 million to the offshore wind infrastructure and supply – to attract private investment such as this announcement from Forth Ports.

“Supported by Forth Green Freeport incentives, the Leith Renewables Hub will bring well-paid green jobs and ensure Scotland is best placed to develop a world leading renewables sector while progressing to net zero.”

In addition to helping deliver the Inch Cape offshore wind farm, the work will prepare the Port of Leith to deliver the wave of projects expected to come through in the ScotWind leasing round.

Wallace added: “It’s encouraging to see the government has earmarked money to invest in infrastructure and supply chain development. Inward investors can see Scotland has the infrastructure, the skills, the capability, the people, the plant and equipment to execute on these projects.”