This week it was announced that Seagreen, a wind farm located in the North Sea’s Firth of Forth, has become fully operational for the first time. The farm is run jointly by TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables and is unique in that it is the deepest fixed wind farm in the world, with its foundations located 58.7 metres below sea level.
The power it generates is transferred to mainland Scotland via subsea cables. From a new substation in Dundee, it is then distributed into the UK electricity grid.
Seagreen first began supplying energy in August 2022, but now all 114 turbines are generating power. These are estimated to provide enough energy to supply two thirds of Scotland’s homes, which equates to 1.6 million households. SSE may add further turbines to the array in the future; however, it has already taken more than 10 years for the project to reach this stage.
Alistair Phillips-Davies, Chief Executive of SSE, does not want Seagreen to be the only farm of its kind however and stressed the importance to invest in similar projects; ‘if we are to fully realise this country’s potential we need many more Seagreens and we look forward to working with governments, partners, investors and local communities to bring more landmark projects like this forward in the future.”
However, in order for this to happen, timelines for projects will need to speed up and red tape preventing the projects moving forward will need to be minimised.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf outlined the importance of this wind farm for Scotland: “this significant milestone for Seagreen is also significant for Scotland, taking us a step closer to creating a net zero energy system that delivers affordable, secure and clean energy.”
This progress also means that the United Kingdom is now home to the world’s 5 largest operational windfarms.
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Sources
https://renews.biz/88853/seagreen-enters-full-commercial-operation/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67126815