OCEANS WIND – MORAY WEST: Strong Scottish Wind Spins Through Moray Firth

In 2019, EDP Renewables and ENGIE formed a joint venture aligning the two companies’ vision for a future powered by more renewable power than ever before. By 2025, the companies expect 5-10 GW to be under advanced stages of development in Europe, North America, and Asia. By harnessing the power of wind, particularly offshore, the new JV – Oceans Wind – will unlock significant value in terms of financial gain but also renewable energy knowhow. Offshore wind is the fastest-growing technology in the world, and both Spanish EDP Renewables and French ENGIE are experienced in the sector, sharing various projects over the past five years.

Underway right now is the exciting Moray West project in Scottish North Sea waters. Following from the Moray East build – Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm – which achieved first power in June 21 and installed its last turbine in September 21, there is much excitement in the Moray Firth. This inlet of cold, rough North Sea water, emanating out from Inverness, which will eventually be home to the Moray East, Moray West, Beatrice, and Caledonia wind farms, will generate major green power for Scotland and stand as an example of what is possible off the coastline thought to previously only be valuable from and oil and gas perspective.

EAST

Moray East is a significant landmark for Scottish energy in its own right. Planning began in 2010 and the proposal initially raised eyebrows because of the project’s distance from shore and water depth. Using the very best technology available, planners opted for size to bring commercial value. Using tripod foundations rather than traditional four-legged jackets, and 9.5 MW turbines, the project generates 950 MW. This is enough clean energy for 950,000 average Scottish homes, taking 1.4 million tonnes of CO₂ out of the atmosphere that would have otherwise been generated with traditional gas fired sources.

When the first turbine was installed offshore in icy cold January 2021, the major onshore operation was already in full swing with parts arriving at ports and being prepped for their 22km offshore journey to site.

“This has demanded precision engineering with massive components, requiring excellent co-operation and co-ordination between a range of companies both on land and at sea, and I would like to offer my thanks and congratulations to all those who have made this most distinctive and visible milestone possible,” said Head of Construction, Enrique Alvarez Cordobes.

Covering almost 300 km², and sending power through more than 500 km of cable, the scale of work was previously unseen in Scotland.

“Moray East is the country’s largest infrastructure project, and a massive amount of effort – represented by tonnes of steel and kilometres of cable – much of this below ground or sea – have been required to get us to this point,” said Project Director, Marcel Sunier

“This is a truly amazing team effort considering the circumstances under which the teams had to work to achieve that important milestone,” he said of the installation of the first turbine. “The resilience and good co-operation was one of the key factors in achieving this. I am looking forward to see the remaining 99 wind turbines being installed safely and successfully during the forthcoming months and wish to thank all those involved in making this happen.”

Nine months later, and Sunier’s hopes were realised. Turbine number 100 from Vestas was set atop its tower, reaching a total height of 669 feet.

Enrique Alvarez Cordobes, since climbing the ladder to become Project Director, provided insight into this unique development that can provide 40% of the country’s electricity.

“In the face of unprecedented global conditions we have safely completed the installation of 100 turbines within the challenging timescale of a single season, and I would like to thank and congratulate all those involved in achieving this milestone safely,” he said.

“Just a decade ago, commercial-scale offshore wind generation in water depths of 50m and more was a vision. We have not only turned that into a reality, but are generating power at less than half the cost of earlier windfarms in shallow water, close to shore.”

Vestas Project Director, Allan Birk Wisby added: “Vestas is proud to have completed delivery and installation of the 100 V164-9.5 MW turbines to the Moray East project, which is a significant step in the right direction of the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy mix. Amidst the challenges of Covid-19, the Vestas and Moray East teams have collaborated tremendously well, installing some of the most powerful turbines in the world safely and on schedule. This has been an excellent achievement by all the project partners and all companies involved in installation.”

Importantly, the power from Moray East is delivered cheaper than other wind projects around UK waters. £57.50 per MWhr is the lowest cost of any new renewable generation and two thirds that of others, typically upward of £140 per MWhr.

In October 2021, the new O&M base was launched at Fraserburgh Harbour. Daily maintenance activities will be performed from Fraserburgh, and the site has received significant investment. Various business and government leaders were on site to mark the occasion, with Dan Finch, Managing Director of Ocean Winds UK stating: “I am delighted that the Scottish Government has been able to join us in marking this important milestone, which represents the concrete-and-steel realisation of the vision for offshore wind we brought to the Moray Firth more than a decade ago.

“The O&M base is the land-based hub for the massive offshore infrastructure of Moray East.  I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with delivering the project – the communities and organisations who have supported the development, our suppliers and our staff – whose commitment has delivered a facility of which Scotland can be proud.

“At a time when security of energy supply is front and centre of the agenda, Moray East is coming on stream with a secure supply of low cost, low carbon energy from domestic renewable resources. 

“This is just the start of our vision for the Moray Firth and wide, deep expanse of the Scottish sea area. In the short term, our sister project, Moray West is shovel ready, and just waiting for a CfD to proceed to construction.”

Full output was achieved in April 2022 and, while significant power was produced as construction was completed, this milestone was widely celebrated. “Offshore wind has a unique advantage; we don’t have to wait until work has finished to switch on. Output can start after the first few turbines have been commissioned and increase incrementally as work progresses. Over the period of nine months from June last year, as more and more of our 100 turbines were installed, we supplied more and more electricity to the gird – 1,415 000 MWhrs,” said Alvarez Cordobes.

WEST

Moray West’s CfD was signed in July 2022, and contracts have started to flow to some of the industry’s big names. First power from this 882 MW project is expected in 2024 and excitement is already building.

“Ocean Winds is pleased to receive a CfD offer for its Moray West project and continues to focus its efforts and expertise on reaching FID and delivering the project on time,” said Grzegorz Gorski, COO at Ocean Winds. “We are particularly proud of our long-term commitment with the UK. In the Moray Firth area, where our Moray East project is now operational and where we were awarded a new lease area in January 2022, we have built strong relationships with our stakeholders, shaping together a growing offshore wind sector and delivering clean energy and opportunities for the region.”

Moray West Project Director, Adam Morrison reiterated feelings of excitement within the ranks. “Securing the recently announced large scale corporate PPA enabled the project to build a contracted revenue stack that reduced risks around the CfD process.  We now look forward to taking Moray West through its construction phase and delivering significant economic opportunities for Scotland and the UK,” he said.

Moray West will host 60 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-222 DD turbines, with blades manufactured in Hull. A service agreement is also included and feeds into the localisation attributes of Oceans Wind in the UK.

“Following the announcement that Siemens Gamesa was the preferred bidder, we are delighted to have finalised agreements for supply and installation of the SG 14-222 DD turbines and their servicing,” says Morrison. “Siemens Gamesa has a strong track record, and this model will allow the next progression in efficiency for offshore wind power generation. We are particularly pleased that our early commitments to Siemens Gamesa will result in the first of the 108 m blades from the expanded Hull facility being used on Moray West. We look forward to working with Siemens Gamesa to ensure a smooth and safe installation programme from the Nigg pre-assembly port as we move towards generation from this major renewables project – stepping towards Net Zero, increasing energy security and lowering the cost of energy.”

Covering 225 km², more than 22.5 km from the coast, powering 640,000 homes and businesses, Moray West is no small undertaking. From a base at the Port of Nigg, turbines will be pre-assembled and prepped for installation. In the Cromarty Firth, the Port of Nigg has proven itself ideally located and highly capable of servicing North Sea wind farms.

“The decision to utilise Nigg follows three successful and safe large installation campaigns, including our sister project Moray East. Having suitable facilities to secure the Moray West work has underlined the value of earlier investments in Nigg and the ongoing need to invest in quayside infrastructure to support the growth of the sector. The recent success in the ScotWind leasing round means that Ocean Winds will make significant early investments to drive the next steps necessary to build capability and capacity in the Scottish supply chain,” said Morrison.

Nexans, another highly experienced in offshore wind farm development, has been selected to provide onshore and offshore cabling for the project and will deliver state-of-the-art HVAC cabling including 220kV and 400kV onshore buried, connecting to the national grid.

“Nexans are delighted to have secured this important, and our first, offshore windfarm project with Ocean Winds,” said Ragnhild Katteland, EVP Subsea & Land Systems of Nexans. “This award re-confirms Nexans as a leading partner in the offshore renewable market and enables further support of our highly skilled onshore workforce based in Edinburgh working in close collaboration with local and nationwide contractors. We look forward to supporting another critical Scottish offshore windfarm electrify the future towards the net zero goal by 2045.” 

CALEDONIA

In September, Oceans Wind received the go ahead from Crown Estate Scotland to develop its 2 GW Caledonia wind farm. Alongside Moray East and West, Caledonia will come online in 2030 following planning and environmental surveys scheduled to begin in 2024.

Gardline has been contracted to carry out a seabed survey aboard the Ocean Endeavour, collecting data to begin the planning process.

Mark Baxter, Project Director for Caledonia, said speed of bringing this project online is the focus.

“The first activity on site is an exciting milestone for any project. Having been awarded the site in January, we are following an ambitious timeline to bring Caledonia on-stream as quickly as possible to meet the shortage of low-carbon energy which is underlying cause of the current energy crisis.

“At this stage of the project we’re in the consenting phase. We’re trying to engage with Scottish suppliers in the development phase, and then we’ll crack on into construction and operations and maintenance.

“We have Fraserburgh and Buckie as two O&M bases that we’re already operation from, so we’re very used to working in the north-east and we’re hoping we can expand that further with Caledonia,” he said.

The ambition and success achieved by Oceans Wind in Scotland should act as an example to follow for others in the industry. Green power can be profitable, it is sustainable, and it can be rolled out quickly. When strong relationships are built between private and public sector institutions, positivity is quickly realised.

The mission of Oceans Wind is to ‘make offshore wind one of the main sources of renewable energy by delivering more efficient and sustainable wind energy solutions’, and all signs show that this innovative business is achieving this.