The government of Scotland has granted a marine license for Statoil's floating offshore wind farm, which will be installed 25 kilometers off the coast of Peterhead, a town in Aberdeenshire.
Statoil proposed developing a pilot park, the Hywind Scotland development, consisting of five floating 6 MW turbines with a total generating capacity of 135 GWh of electricity per year – enough to power nearly 20,000 homes. Final commissioning will likely be in 2017, according to a government release.
The Hywind turbines will be attached to the seabed by a three-point mooring spread and anchoring system. The towers will be connected by an inter-array of cables, and an export cable will transport electricity from the pilot park to shore at Peterhead.
"Floating wind represents a new, significant and increasingly competitive renewable energy source," explains Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil's executive vice president for new energy solutions. "Statoil's objective with developing this pilot park is to demonstrate a commercial, utility-scale floating wind solution to further increase the global market potential. We are proud to develop this unique project in Scotland in a region that has optimal wind conditions, a strong supply chain within oil and gas, and supportive public policies.’
