United Kingdom

United Kingdom

First turbine installed and first power at Beatrice

UK: The first Siemens Gamesa turbine has been installed at the Beatrice offshore wind farm in Scotland, and the project has delivered first power to the grid.

The first of 84 SWT-7.0-154 turbines has been installed off Scotland's east coast (pic: Beatrice Offshore Wind Limited)
The first of 84 SWT-7.0-154 turbines has been installed off Scotland's east coast (pic: Beatrice Offshore Wind Limited)

The first of 84 Siemens Gameas SWT-7.0-154 turbines was installed at the site on 14 July. 

Five days later, UK utility SSE, which is developing the project and owns a 40% stake in it, reported that ithad started generating power for the first time.

Major Danish offshore wind investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (35%) and UK arm of Chinese state-owned investment holding company State Development and Investment Corporation (25%) own the remainder of the project. 

Beatrice began as a joint venture between SSE and Repsol Nuevas Energias UK. SSE sold a portion of its stake to CIP in November 2014.

In February 2016, SDIC acquired Repsol's 25% stake in the project as part of a wider deal, which included the acquisition of the 784MW Inch Cape project.

The consortium completed financing of the €3.35 billion project in May 2016.

The project is using jacket foundations, the last of which was installed on 11 July.

Some of the jackets were supplied by UK-based Burntisland Fabrication (BiFab) despite the fabricator entering financial difficulties during production of the structures. 

The company was eventually saved by Canadian industrial construction company JV Driver, through its subsidiary DF Barnes and the Scottish government. 

Beatrice is located 14km off the Scottish east coast in the Moray Firth. Project commissioning is expected in 2019. 

Beatrice is the fifth and final offshore development to reach a final investment decision (FID) of those that were awarded FID-enabling contract for difference support agreements by the UK government in April 2014.

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