Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has described the switching on of the Moray West offshore windfarm, located off the coast of Buckie, as a “huge moment” for renewable energy generation in Scotland and the broader UK.
Moray West is one of Scotland’s largest offshore windfarms, and will generate 882MW of output – enough to power 1.3 million homes, or half of all the houses in Scotland. It covers a total area of 225 square kilometres, in the Moray Firth.
The facility is operated by Ocean Winds, which will become the largest offshore wind operator in Scotland once Moray West achieves full power, with the company already running two windfarms off the North East coast and with a third in development.
‘Absolutely central’
“Investment like that being made by Ocean Winds is absolutely central to ensuring that Scotland and its workers benefit from the skilled jobs and economic growth that clean energy can bring,” Murray commented. “With Great British energy located in Aberdeen, and billions of pounds of investment on the table, Scotland is at the very heart of the UK Government’s drive to make the UK a clean energy superpower.”
The development of Moray West saw around 1,500 jobs bring created during construction, while over 80 UK suppliers contributed, on a project that included the installation of the largest turbines ever seen in British waters.
Sarens PSG, which was involved in the construction of the wind farm, also recently opened a new £1.6 million Aberdeen training facility for wind farm workers. Elsewhere, Scotland is also home to the Floating Wind Innovation Centre, the UK’s first dedicated facility of its kind for floating wind technology, which is operated by ORE Catapult.
Clean energy plan
Elsewhere, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband highlighted offshore wind as essential to the UK’s clean energy strategy.
“Offshore wind is the backbone of our plans for clean power by 2030, as the UK is blessed with thousands of miles of coastline,” he commented. “Developments like Moray West take us a step closer to getting off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and help deliver on our Plan for Change, protecting households from volatile gas prices and creating good jobs.” Read more here.
