The developers of the Salamander floating offshore wind farm have designated an optimal site for the project’s onshore substation.
The recently filed consent applications for the wind farm’s onshore aspects lays out an onshore development area roughly 1.2 miles (2km) north of Peterhead.
This will form the location for various parts of the project, including it’s the substation, a 50MW battery storage facility and the onshore export cables.
While the final locations and arrangements for the onshore substation and battery facility have yet to be determined, they will be located within an area of forestry and arable farmland within 0.9 miles (1.5km) of the landfall.
This was chosen to provide screening to reduce the visual impact of the development.
The 100MW project is being developed by Orsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7. Salamander will be base up to seven wind turbines in water 21.75 miles (35km) off Peterhead.
Salamander project director Hugh Yendole said: “The opportunity is clear. The Scottish Government has the power to unlock the potential capability of floating offshore wind in our country and support Scotland becoming the global leader in floating offshore wind.
“The onshore applications present our plans for the onshore facilities required for our project. Both are key areas of our development and support our vision for green energy. At each stage we have encouraged and incorporated feedback from our stakeholders, and we will continue to work with them throughout the approval process.”
The developers submitted the project’s offshore consent applications in April this year.
Salamander was a successful Innovation bidder in Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, signing an Exclusivity Agreement for a seabed lease in May last year.
In addition to helping decarbonise the North Sea oil and gas sector, the project aims to give Scotland’s floating wind supply chain an early opportunity to work on floating offshore wind ahead of the larger-scale ScotWind buildout.
The application said that the earliest possible date for onshore construction to commence is January 2027, with offshore construction the expected to start in the second quarter of 2028.
It is anticipated that the Salamander Project will be commissioned and operational by the final quarter of 2029.
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