Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm signs deal with Scrabster Harbour Trust to develop operations and maintenance base in Caithness
The recently upgraded Scrabster Harbour is set to benefit from an agreement with a pioneering floating wind farm due to be built off the north coast.
Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm will consist of up to 10 floating turbines, with a maximum blade-tip height of 300 metres, located around six kilometres north-west of Dounreay.
The developer has now signed an memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Scrabster Harbour Trust to work together on the development of operations and maintenance (O&M) requirements, services, and facilities.
The MOU also sees the organisations commit to collaboratively investigating the potential for construction support services and major component change-out for floating wind turbines.
An £18.9 million pier redevelopment was recently completed at Scrabster Harbour, with trust board chairman Tom Pottinger saying it meant the port was ideally placed to seize new opportunities, including in offshore energy.
The harbour has been involved in the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm throughout the project’s early stages, including vessel mobilisation and demobilisation for geophysical and geotechnical surveys and use of the port’s facilities during commissioning and deployment of wind measurement equipment during 2020.
The development activities for the wind farm are being managed by Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP) on behalf of Highland Wind Limited. Highland Wind is majority owned by fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through one of its CI funds.
Richard Copeland, project director at COP UK, said: “This MOU demonstrates the benefits that the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm could bring to the Caithness area. Providing operations and maintenance for offshore wind brings long-term, high value jobs and wider economic and social benefits.
“Scrabster is ideally positioned to support the Pentland project throughout its lifetime and the recent investments, such as the St Ola Pier, which was officially opened last week, and deep-water basin, only enhance that position.”
Sandy Mackie, Scrabster Harbour Trust manager, said: “The Pentland project is already bringing work to Scrabster and we are pleased to build on that working relationship towards Scrabster becoming the O&M facility for the project.
“As well as bringing direct opportunities to the port and wider area, Pentland will also provide the ideal opportunity to further demonstrate our capabilities and readiness for supporting offshore wind, such as the larger scale projects to be deployed through ScotWind.”
The wind farm project is also undertaking a local supply chain and socio-economic study with the University of Highlands and Islands and Xodus which will assess the benefits that development at Scrabster will bring to the local area.
The development is planned over two stages. The first consists of a single turbine demonstrator – called the Demo – that will showcase new floating wind technology with a high potential for localisation in Scotland, with deployment expected in 2024.
The second stage is the larger array project , with up to 10 turbines, which will be collectively capable of generating up to 100MW. Construction of the array is expected to commence in 2024 and be operational in 2026. Upon completion, the array will be the largest of its kind in the world.
The project announcement follows the recent confirmation that CIP (through one of its funds) has entered the ScotWind process as part of a consortium with SSE Renewables and Marubeni Corporation. The three companies will combine their local experience and global expertise to help Scotland deliver 10GW of new offshore wind projects.
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