Steel jacket foundations for Scotland’s largest offshore wind power project, the 1GW-plus Seagreen, will be marshalled at the Nigg yard in the Scottish Highlands for installation at sea, after the award by developer-team Total and SSE Renewables of a breakthrough contract to the former oil & gas fabrication facility.

The deal comes after the site’s owner, the UK’s Global Energy Group, earlier this month locked up some £8.3m ($10m) in investment from the Scottish government for a major extension to the yard’s quayside, a key step in progressing the £3bn offshore wind project, which has already awarded orders including for turbines, to OEM MHI Vestas, and for foundation and inter-array cable installation, to contractor Seaway 7.

The contact, the value of which was not disclosed, will support 141 skilled jobs at the Port of Nigg, including work for 93 permanent roles already on-site and the creation of an additional 48 new roles at the facility.

“This contract provides a further boost to Scotland’s growing offshore renewables industry, sustaining existing jobs and delivering new, skilled jobs to the area and supporting Scotland’s green recovery from Covid-19 – a high priority of this government. It is a testament to the skills and expertise of all those who work at the Port of Nigg,” said Scotland’s energy minister, Paul Wheelhouse.

SSE Renewables director of capital projects Paul Cooley stated: “This major construction contract at Port of Nigg for Seagreen will create local jobs required to support this important delivery phase of what will become Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm when complete.

“Today’s announcement is great news for Scotland and puts Scottish offshore wind to the fore of the country’s green economic recovery.”

Tim Cornelius, CEO of Global Energy Group, said: “The heavy load bearing capacity and deep-water quayside together with the facility’s strategic location and onsite, experienced, support services make the Port of Nigg the ideal choice for the execution of projects of this scale.”

Cooley added: “Since the start of 2020 SSE Renewables has begun construction on three crucial offshore and onshore wind projects here in Scotland [that] will provide clean power for more than half the homes in Scotland.

“And importantly, these low carbon projects are powering a green, economic recovery right now through their support of more than 1,000 high value green jobs in Scotland, including direct, contractor and supply chain roles.”

Once fully expanded, the Nigg yard, already Europe’s largest graving dock with over 9,000 metres of deepwater quayside, is forecast to bring an additional £11.25m in new business to the area in its first three years.

The revival of Nigg comes as the latest evidence of Scotland having raised its sights its 2030 offshore wind power build-out, following the setting an 11GW goal last year as part its wider national green recovery and decarbonisation strategies spurred by the upcoming ScotWind licensing round.

Wheelhouse said: “This [contract award] along with the first ScotWind leasing round marks a significant step as we push forward with our ambitious and world-leading plans to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

“The Scottish government is … working hard to ensure that we support the supply chain to increase the contract value it secures from these future offshore wind opportunities and this latest contract win will help further enhance the Port of Nigg’s strong track record and capabilities.”

Installation of the Seagreen foundations – being fabricated by joint venture COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries yard in Zhuhai, China, before being sailed to Nigg – is slated to start in the second half of 2021 in the Firth of Forth and last for a period of 12 months.

Scotland’s government last year pledged action to keep more offshore wind contracts within its borders through compulsory “supply-chain commitments” with project developers, in the face of strong criticism from unions and the supply chain over the number of orders and jobs vanishing abroad.

Once ramped up to full power in 2022/23, the 1.075GW Seagreen, located 27km offshore in water depths of 35-70 metres, is expected to generate enough wind power to supply more than 1.6 million homes and displace over 2 million tonnes of CO² from fossil-fuelled electricity production.

Seagreen has been under development since 2010, when it was part of an award of exclusive development rights for the Firth of Forth Zone of the UK's Round 3 offshore wind farm development programme to SSE Renewables.

The project was consented in 2014, but further development was waylaid until 2017 due to an ultimately unsuccessful legal challenge by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Seagreen in September last year secured a 15-year contract for difference by the UK government for 454MW, or 42% of the total project capacity.

Global offshore wind capacity is forecast to surge toward 240GW by 2030 , as governments around the world see it as a major contributor to a post-Covid-19 economic recovery, the Global Wind Energy Council said recently, while developer-led industry group the Ocean Renewable Energy Action Coalition expects sea-based projects to make up 85% of a 1.4TW build out of renewable ocean energy plant by 2050.

Energy Transition

Major marshalling deal for Scotland's largest offshore wind farm awarded by Total-SSE