CONSTRUCTION OF BEATRICE OFFSHORE WIND FARM COMPLETED

The final 7MW Siemens Gamesa turbine of the Beatrice offshore wind farm was installed in the Outer Moray Firth, around 13km off the coast of Caithness, bringing the site’s total installed capacity to 588MW – enough to provide clean, low carbon energy to over 450,000 homes.
Jim Smith, Managing Director of SSE Renewables said: “Completing the offshore construction at Beatrice is a testament to the capabilities of SSE Renewables and our project partners. Delivering one of Scotland’s largest ever private investments on time and under budget is a fantastic achievement given its complexity and we would like to thank everyone who has helped us make the project a reality.”
Each of the 84 turbines, at 188m from sea level to blade tip, stands taller than the London Eye and Beatrice is the largest offshore wind farm in the world to use jacket foundations. These jackets weigh around 1,000 tonnes each and are the deepest water fixed foundations of any wind farm in the world, installed in water depths of over 56m.
As Beatrice’s majority shareholder, SSE Renewables led on the construction process and will manage operations and maintenance from a new base in Wick, having invested over £20m in the coastal town to redevelop the harbour front and renovate two 200-year-old Thomas Telford buildings that will soon become home to up to 90 long-term members of staff.
The Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm now known as Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) project, is a wind farm close to the Beatrice oil field in the Moray Firth, part of the North Sea 13 km off the north east coast of Scotland.
Offshore construction began in April 2017.[6] As of 15 May 2018, 56 of the total 84 turbine and 2 OTM jackets had been installed, first power from the main phase was generated in July 2018
In January 2019, the wind farm was connected to the new Caithness – Moray Subsea link. The high voltage direct current link, enables power generated at Beatrice and other projects to be sent to high population areas in southern Scotland.
(Source: Beatrice Wind Farm)