Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) said that its offshore wind farm (OWF) in the Moray Firth has produced 587.9MW of capacity, which represents the highest output from renewable sources in Scotland to date.
Turbines at the windfarm this week reached their capacity of 588 megawatts, which is enough to power 450,000 homes, said the company.
Construction at the site, the largest offshore windfarm in Scotland was completed two weeks ago with the installation of the 84th turbine.
The final 7MW Siemens Gamesa turbine was installed in the Outer Moray Firth, around 13km off the coast of Caithness, bringing the site’s total installed capacity to 588MW – enough to provide clean, low carbon energy to over 450,000 homes.
Jim Smith, Managing Director of SSE Renewables said: “Completing the offshore construction at Beatrice is a testament to the capabilities of SSE Renewables and our project partners. Delivering one of Scotland’s largest ever private investments on time and under budget is a fantastic achievement given its complexity and we would like to thank everyone who has helped us make the project a reality.”
Each of the 84 turbines, at 188m from sea level to blade tip, stands taller than the London Eye and Beatrice is the largest offshore wind farm in the world to use jacket foundations. These jackets weigh around 1,000 tonnes each and are the deepest water fixed foundations of any wind farm in the world, installed in water depths of over 56m.
As Beatrice’s majority shareholder, SSE Renewables led on the construction process and will manage operations and maintenance from a new base in Wick, having invested over £20m in the coastal town to redevelop the harbour front and renovate two 200-year-old Thomas Telford buildings that will soon become home to up to 90 long-term members of staff.