Wednesday 18 October 2017

World’s first floating wind farm powers up in Scotland

 

The world’s first floating wind farm has started generating power off the coast of Scotland.

The 30MW Hywind wind farm is now delivering electricity to the Scottish grid.

The five giant turbines, installed around 25 kilometres from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, will generate enough electricity to power 20,000 homes a year.

The benefit of floating turbines is that they can be installed in waters that are too deep for traditional offshore wind farms.

Developer Statoil is also working towards linking a 1MWh lithium battery storage solution to the floating wind farm with partner Masdar.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who will officially open the wind farm today, said: “This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland.

“Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government’s commitment to the development of this technology and coupled with Statoil’s Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world centre for energy innovation.”