Moray East wind farm instals final turbine
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The last of the 100 turbines at Scotland’s largest wind farm, Moray East, has been installed at the offshore site, putting it on track to begin full operation by the end of the year.
Moray East began generating when its first turbines came online in June and has been gradually increasing output as more turbines were installed and commissioned.
With the final turbines now in place, the commissioning work which will enable the project to achieve full output of 950MW is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
The wind farm is being developed by Moray Offshore Windfarm East Ltd (MOWEL), a joint venture company between majority partner Ocean Winds and Diamond Green Limited and CTG.
Project director Enrique Alvaarez said: “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.
“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 wind farms in shallow water, close to shore.
“Now we turn to the task of commissioning the turbines and bringing the wind farm up to its full generating capacity – ultimately enough to meet circa 40 per cent of Scotland’s domestic electricity needs”
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.”
The final installation comes for years after MOWEL was awarded a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy for the delivery of 950MW of offshore wind generation.
