The operators of the Seagreen offshore wind farm, off the coast of Angus, have hailed another milestone in its construction.
The installation of the mammoth structure, described as the wind farm’s backbone, is the result of years of careful planning and design.
The topside is 40 metres long, 45 metres wide and 15 metres high. Its weight is around 4,800 tonnes.
The heavyweight superstructure’s role is to collect and manage 1,075MW of power generated by the 114 wind turbines.
It then transfers the energy from Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm ashore via around 60 kilometres of subsea cabling.
Once onshore at Carnoustie, the electricity continues to the new Tealing substation via a further 19km of cables.
The topside was lifted from a heavy transport vessel and on to a six-legged jacket foundation.
The completed structure sits in water depths of around 55 metres. It is one of the largest AC platforms in UK waters.
Praise for teams installing Seagreen structure
Director of the Seagreen Wind Farm Project, John Hill said: “The many years of careful design and planning have come to fruition with the successful installation of one of the UK’s largest offshore AC platforms.
“The topside is a significant piece of equipment which has been carefully designed to withstand the rigours of a long operational life in the North Sea. The teams involved have done an excellent job.”
The first turbine in the project was installed in December.
Another vessel is currently installing the export cable from the landfall point at Carnoustie.
Situated 27km off the Angus coast, Seagreen is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (49%) and TotalEnergies (51%).
It is due to enter operation in early 2023.
At 1.1GW, the wind farm will be capable of generating around 5,000GWh of renewable energy annually.
This is enough electricity to power more than 1.6 million UK homes.
