THE construction of one of the world’s deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farms is entering the final phases of work, SSE Renewables has announced.
Located 27 kilometres off the coast of Angus in the North Sea, the Seagreen Wind Farm project comes as part of a £3 billion joint venture between TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables. Once complete, it will have the capability of powering 1.6 million homes.
Final works on the project are now underway after the remaining eight three-legged foundation towers were successfully loaded onto barges at Global Energy Group’s Port of Nigg.
Global Port Services, part of Global Energy Group, fulfilled the storage, marshalling, and logistics contracts for the 114, 95m-tall foundation towers on the South Quay at the Port of Nigg, with Seaway7 transporting the jackets on barges from the port to site located 27km off the Angus coast. 106 of the jacket substructures have been installed with 79 turbines now erected.
The remaining eight foundation jackets loaded out at Nigg will remain on barges until the S7000 vessel returns to the Seagreen site in March following its maintenance outage.
Since the pre-assembly construction project got underway, it has supported more than 100 skilled jobs at the Port of Nigg – delivering a green jobs boost and ‘significant’ economic benefits to the Highlands and Scotland.
Project director for the Seagreen Wind Farm, John Hill, said, “This is the first time that a major infrastructure and pre-assembly contract of its type was brought to the Port of Nigg since the unveiling of the new purpose-built East Quay, so achieving the loadout of the final jackets for Seagreen is a huge achievement and I would like to thank everyone involved for their outstanding work in contributing to the delivery of the project.
“It marks a significant milestone in the project as we enter the final phases of work, our teams will continue to work on the commissioning of the already installed wind turbines as well as progress with the installation of array cables. The installation of jackets and turbines is expected to recommence in early spring following a planned break in the programme for the Saipem S7000 vessel and the Wind Orca.”
Charlie Morrison, operations director at the Port of Nigg, added, “During this project we have offloaded the jackets from the heavy transport vessels, moved them to storage, then successfully loaded them onto barges for installation offshore.
“Health and safety has been at the core of everything we do, and the collaboration between all the various organisations has been a testament to what can be achieved where there is a common goal, clear direction, and sense of purpose.
“I have witnessed first-hand the skill, experience, and dedication the team have displayed to keep things on track, and it is very rewarding to see the team members grow in both ability and confidence as the project has progressed.”
Martin Johnston, Seagreen marshalling site manager for Seaway7, commented, “The successful loadout of the final jackets from Nigg is a significant milestone on the Seagreen project and concludes the marshalling scope at Nigg Energy Park.
“The task of loading-in, preparing and loading out the Seagreen jackets over the last 18 months has been challenging and relentless, however the collaboration between Seaway7, Seagreen Wind Energy, Global Energy Group, Port of Cromarty Firth and Mammoet has made this possible.
“The main target of feeding the installation vessel throughout the installation campaigns was achieved and ultimately provided a major contribution to the development of the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm.”
