The Seagreen offshore wind farm, a 1.1GW project in Scotland jointly owned by SSE Renewables and TotalEnergies, has started commercial operations.
Located 27km off the coast of Angus in the North Sea’s Firth of Forth, the wind farm is expected to generate around five terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean energy.
The power produced is sufficient to meet the annual needs of nearly 1.6 million households. This number equates to around two-thirds of Scotland’s homes.
Said to be the largest offshore wind farm in Scotland, the project is anticipated to have an operating life of around 25 years.
During its operations, the wind farm can help avoid more than two million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.
The offshore wind farm is also considered to be one of the globe’s deepest fixed-bottom projects, where the deepest foundation is 58.7m below sea level.
It is powered by 114 of Vestas V164-10.0 MW turbines, each with 10MW of power-generating capacity.
The project generated first power in August last year and the final turbine was installed in June 2023.
SSE CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies said: “This is a big milestone for Seagreen and for Scotland. It shows that this country not only has world-class renewable resources but also world-class teams able to deliver major clean energy projects at scale. Seagreen’s ability to power up to 1.6 million homes will make a significant contribution to energy security and extend Scotland and the UK’s leadership in clean energy generation.
“But if we are to fully realise this country’s potential we need many more Seagreens, and we look forward to working with governments, partners, investors and local communities to bring more landmark projects like this forward in the future.”
TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “I am very pleased to see Seagreen generating at full power, making it TotalEnergies’ biggest offshore wind farm worldwide.
“This 1GW project is a new step in delivering our strategy of building a world-class, cost-competitive portfolio of renewable energy to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to our customers. It will positively contribute to achieving our Integrated Power 12% profitability target and our objective of reaching more than 100TWh of power generation by 2030.”
French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies owns a 51% stake in the Seagreen offshore wind farm, while SSE Renewables owns the remaining 49% stake.
