The world's first floating wind farm has been officially opened by First Minister (FM) Nicola Sturgeon later today, 18 October.

The 30MW Hywind Scotland wind farm, located 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, has started to generate its first electricity to the Scottish grid.

Operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar, the development will power around 20,000 Scottish households.

The project's onshore operations and maintenance base is located in Peterhead, while the operations center is located in Great Yarmouth. Linked to the Hywind Scotland project, Statoil and Masdar will also install Batwind, a 1MWh Lithium battery storage solution for offshore wind energy.

Speaking at the opening event in Aberdeen, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "I am delighted to open Hywind Scotland—the world's first floating wind farm. Hywind will provide clean energy to over twenty thousand homes and will help us meet our ambitious climate change targets.


"This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland. Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government's commitment to the development of this technology and, coupled with Statoil's Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world centre for energy innovation."

Irene Rummelhoff, Executive Vice President of Statoil's New Energy Solutions business, said: "Hywind can be used for water depths up to 800 meters, thus opening up areas that so far have been inaccessible for offshore wind.

"The learnings from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy. Through their government's support to develop the Hywind Scotland project, the UK and Scotland are now at the forefront of the development of this exciting new technology. Statoil looks forward to exploring the next steps for floating offshore wind."

Welcoming the development's opening, Acting Head of Policy at WWF Scotland Gina Hanrahan said: "With around a quarter of Europe's offshore wind resource in Scotland, it's great to see the world's first floating windfarm inaugurated off our coast. Offshore wind is already an industrial success story across the UK, cutting emissions, creating jobs and dramatically driving down costs. By demonstrating the commercial viability of floating wind, Scotland can help to develop the industry in new frontiers and deeper waters.

"With this kind of innovation and investment, and continued political support, Scotland will continue to power towards our target of securing half of all our energy needs form renewable sources by 2030."




Image: The Hywind Scotland floating wind farm (credit; Øyvind Gravås / Woldcam - Statoil ASA).

(LM/MH)