Ocean Winds, a 50/50 joint venture from EDP Renewables and ENGIE, has marked the first export of power from its offshore wind farm in the Moray Firth, northern Scotland, to the National Electricity Transmission Systems (NETS).
Ocean Winds has a 6GW portfolio of UK offshore wind, and noted that the 882MW Moray West development is nearing the end of construction and will be fully operational in 2025.
All of the foundations for the wind farm, the offshore substations and array-cables have been installed and the remaining turbine components are being pre-assembled at the Port of Nigg.
Pete Geddes, project director for Moray West, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to maintain the project timeline, and I’m looking forward to a timely handover to the new operations team in the first months of 2025. To meet UK government targets for offshore wind deployment, it is vital that policy is stable and supportive, to nurture investor confidence, and thereby avoid the risk of market and regulatory shock.”
Onshore, export cables are in place, connecting the wind turbines with the NETS at Blackhillock substation. The project is proceeding in line with the originally projected commercial operations date, said Ocean Winds.
According to Ocean Winds, during construction phases Moray West will create over 1,500 full-time equivalent years of work in Scotland, and over its lifespan, the wind farm will inject over £800 million into the local Scottish economy.
Moray West is also supporting a number of local education and training goals, including transitioning of skilled workforce from the oil and gas sector and apprenticeship and internship programmes, as well as sponsoring PhD candidates focused on environmental studies.
Bautista Rodriguez, chief operating officer of Ocean Winds, commented: “Announcing first power for Moray West in the current international context marks Ocean Winds’ commitment to successful delivery, adaptability, reactivity and resilience, as well as highlighting the tremendous work from our teams. With two more projects in development in the United Kingdom and Moray East already operating, we are proud to take an active and growing part in the United Kingdom’s energy transition.
“Our long-term presence in the Moray Firth region developing supply chain, unlocking local opportunities and generating clean energy through state-of-the-art offshore wind projects is the perfect example of what Ocean Winds is committed to delivering in its 16 secured projects worldwide.”
Offshore wind powering the digital age
At the start of this year, Amazon signed a corporate power purchase agreement (cPPA) with ENGIE that increased its share of output from Moray West to a total of 473MW. Amazon aims to power all of its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025.
That includes its Amazon Web Services arm, which relies on vast amounts of energy to power its data centres. The impact of data centres’ electricity draw was explored in a recent Current± blog.
