The world’s first floating wind farm – Norwegian energy giant Statoil’s 30MW Hywind Scotland array – has been switched on off the Scottish northeast coast, marking the start of a new chapter in the fast-paced narrative of a sector that installed its maiden industrial-scale prototype less than a decade ago.

Made up of five 6MW Siemens Gamesa turbines topping 75-metre-long steel spar-buoy foundations moored to the seabed in 100 metres of water, the project – formerly known as Buchan Deep – will produce enough power for some 20,000 households from its site 24km off Peterhead.