GLASGOW, 19 Oct 2017:
The first floating wind farm in the world, located off the coast of Scotland, has started to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid.
Its operator, Norwegian multinational oil and gas company Statoil, yesterday said in a statement the 30MW wind farm, named Hywind Scotland, is located 25km offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire and will power approximately 20,000 households.
It is operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar, a renewable energy company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Hywind can be used for water depths up to 800m, thus opening up areas that so far have been inaccessible for offshore wind,” said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of the New Energy Solutions business area in Statoil.
“The learnings from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy.”
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said at the launch: “I am delighted to open Hywind Scotland — the world’s first floating wind farm. This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland.”
The project “will help us meet our ambitious climate change targets” and “positions Scotland as a world centre for energy innovation,” she said.
In recent years, there have been significant cost reductions in both the onshore and bottom fixed offshore wind sectors.
Floating wind is expected to follow a similar downward trajectory over the next decade, making it cost competitive with other renewable energy sources, according to Statoil.
– Bernama