World’s largest floating wind farm is powered up in Scottish waters

The 50-MW Kincardine floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland, the largest one of its kind globally, has been put on stream.

The classification as “the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm” was given by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), which announced the project completion earlier this week.

Located 15 km (9 miles) off the coast of Aberdeen, the wind park uses five V164 9.5 MW turbines plus one V80-2.0 MW machine by Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS), installed at water depths of between 60 metres (197 ft) and 80 metres. The plant is estimated to produce up to 218 GWh of electricity annually, or enough to cover the consumption of roughly 55,000 Scottish homes.

The project was developed by Kincardine Offshore Wind, a unit of Pilot Offshore Renewables (POR). Spanish construction engineering group ACS (BME:ACS), through its subsidiary Cobra Wind, was tasked with the engineering, design, supply, construction and commissioning of the wind farm. Kincardine generated first power in late 2018.

“This exciting project demonstrates the potential of floating turbines and we are confident they will have an increasingly prominent role to play in the development of sustainable energy all over the world,” said Matthew Tremblay, ABS’ senior vice president, global offshore.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!