Scotland's largest offshore wind farm
Overview
The operational Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm is Scotland's largest, located around 27km from the coast of Angus in the North Sea.
A joint venture between TotalEnergies (51%) and SSE Renewables (49%), Seagreen is also the holder of the record for the world's deepest fixed bottom foundation^.
Seagreen has 114 turbines with a total generating capacity of 1,075MW. Following first power in August 2022 the site became fully operational in October 2023. Power is exported via around 19km of underground cables from landfall at Carnoustie to a new substation at Tealing near Dundee.
The 114 turbines can provide enough green energy to power more than 1.6 million homes, equivalent to two-thirds of all Scottish homes*. They will also displace over 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from electricity generated by fossil fuels every year – similar to removing more than a third of all of Scotland’s annual car emissions and making a significant contribution to Scotland’s net-zero ambition by 2045*.
Seagreen was consented with permission to install 150 offshore wind turbines.
The remaining 36 offshore wind turbines are consented but not yet constructed. The power will be exported to the grid via Cockenzie, East Lothian. Information relating to this connection can be found here.
In January 2022 we submitted a Screening Report to Marine Scotland to increase the size of the 36 consented turbines. You can find out more about this Screening Report by clicking here.
Fast facts
114 Vestas
offshore wind
turbines
Able to power more than 1.6m homes
Operational base in Port of Montrose
Located 27km from Angus coast
First power generated in August 2022
Fully operational in October 2023
Location
A joint venture partnership
Seagreen is a joint venture offshore wind farm, developed and owned by SSE Renewables (49%) and TotalEnergies (51%).
SSE Renewables led on the development and construction phases, supported by TotalEnergies, and will operate Seagreen on completion.
First power was achieved in August 2022 and Seagreen became fully operational in October 2023.
Delivering economic benefit
Seagreen is delivering significant economic benefit to Scotland and the UK. It is helping power a green, economic recovery and supporting high value green jobs in Scotland, including direct, contractor and supply chain roles.
At Global Energy Group’s Port of Nigg near Inverness, Seagreen supported 141 skilled jobs associated with the marshalling, storage and logistics for the 114 turbine jacket foundations.
The 141 peak construction jobs included work for 93 permanent roles already on-site as well as the creation of an additional 48 new roles at the port, delivering a green jobs boost to the Scottish Highlands.
The Seagreen Operations and Maintenance (O&M) base at Montrose was built by local Angus contractors Pert-Bruce who included a number of apprentices in its workforce as part of the works. The building itself was formerly in use in Aberdeen and the adjacent radio mast was formerly in use at another offshore wind farm development.
The O&M base will be home to approximately 80 full-time (direct) operational roles including up to 60 Vestas personnel maintaining the turbines both from the O&M base and offshore service operations vessels. There will also be a significant number of indirect roles and specialised contractors supporting Seagreen and the O&M base throughout the life of the wind farm.
Notes
^ Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm is Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm in operation (compared with the next largest offshore wind farm in Scottish waters at 950MW.) Seagreen is the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm with a maximum turbine depth of 58.6 metres (compared with the next deepest, Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm in the Moray Firth with a maximum turbine depth of 56 meters.)
* 1.62 million homes powered per annum based on Typical Domestic Consumption Values in Britain (Medium Electricity Profile Class 1, 2,900kWh per household; OFGEM, January 2021), typical 50% offshore wind load factor, and installed capacity of 1.1GW.
* Two-thirds of homes in Scotland based on Household Estimates Scotland 2019 (National Records of Scotland, June 2020). Quoted 2.23m t/CO2 reductions per annum based on expected annual output against average 446 t/CO2 per GWh (BEIS Digest of UK Energy Statistics, July 2020).