A major offshore wind farm project that will be built off the Angus coast has won government approval.
Inch Cape, which will be located about 10 miles from Arbroath, has been awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD).
The £2 billion wind farm will comprise up to 72 turbines and will have a capacity of more than 1GW.
It will produce enough power for 1.1 million homes.
The project is a joint venture between Red Rock Power and ESB Energy and will create 450 jobs in its construction phase.
What is Contracts for Difference?
The CfD is a contract between the wind farm and the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), a government-owned company that oversees the administration of the contract.
The CfD scheme determines the sum government will pay per megawatt of electricity produced by the project.
For renewable projects, contracts last for 15 years.
Inch Cape was unsuccessful in the government’s CfD auction round in 2019.
But it is one of 93 successful projects from across the UK awarded a contract by the government’s department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS).
‘Important milestone’ for Inch Cape
Inch Cape project director Adam Ezzamel said a huge amount of work has gone into securing the contract this time.
He said: “This is an important milestone for the project, and testament to the great work of team which has completely re-engineered the wind farm over the last two years.
“Their work has resulted in a project with significantly greater output and a lower cost of energy, ensuring that we were able to submit a successful bid to the auction.”
It is one of two Scottish offshore projects that has won in the latest auction alongside Moray West offshore wind farm.
The latest auction has also delivered a further reduction in offshore wind strike prices.
The price per MWh of offshore wind, £37.35/MWh, has now fallen by almost 70% since the first CfD auction in 2015.
A number of onshore, tidal and remote island projects have also been successful.
Potential to create thousands of jobs
Scottish Renewables chief executive Claire Mack said Scotland’s offshore wind potential could bring billions into the economy and create thousands of new jobs.
She said: “Scotland’s offshore wind potential was outlined by the recent ScotWind round, through which 17 projects received seabed leases.
“That new capacity, which could reach 25GW, would bring up to £24.9 billion into the Scottish economy.
It would also create tens of thousands of jobs.
“The benefits to Scottish communities which stem from this will be transformational.
“Projects which were recently awarded seabed leases have committed to invest in Scotland – and specifically in supply chain businesses – on a scale never seen before, in any industry.”
She said the investment would also allow Scottish firms to compete in the global offshore wind market.
Ms Mack said it will also revitalise communities which currently rely on seasonal tourism.
Final investment decision by mid-2023
If the project goes ahead, the wind farm would be nine miles from the closest point, Ethie Mains, north of Arbroath.
It would just be visible on the horizon.
Mr Ezzamel said previously project such as Inch Cape are integral to the Scottish and UK government’s net zero ambitions.
He the focus of the Inch Cape team would turn to contracting key work.
He added: “Our focus now moves to the contracting of key work packages and progressing towards a final investment decision by the middle of next year.”
Conversation