Piling Complete - Moray East'sFirst Offshore Construction Milestone Reached

28/02/20, 10:57 AM

Edinburgh 28 February 2020:  Moray East announced the successful completion of offshore piling works on their 950MW offshore wind farm which is under construction in the Moray Firth, off the North East coast of Scotland. 

Work to install the pin piles in the sea-bed commenced in May of last year, using the jack-up installation vessel ‘Apollo’ which worked out of Cromarty Firth Ports Authority’s onshore handling facilities at Invergordon.

The offshore wind farm will consist of 100 turbines and three offshore substation platforms.  It is being installed in deeper water than most existing UK wind farms, necessitating the use of three-legged jacket structures for each turbine and substation platform. Three pin-piles are thus required at the site of each turbine and substation platform, giving a total of 309. 

Commenting, Project Director for Moray East, Marcel Sunier said:

“The important first phase of offshore installation works have been completed safely and successfully without any major incidents. I would like to thank all those involved including our contractors, our suppliers, our local port facilities at Invergordon and the authorities.

“Although the piles are undersea, underground and unseen, they are the foundations on which the entire project’s success literally rests. The challenge of accurately driving  309 piles into the sea-bed, in water depths of ca. 50m, more than 20km from shore in Scottish weather conditions cannot be understated.  

“The dynamics which make the Moray Firth a more challenging location for installation are the same dynamics which enable us to deliver high a volume of electricity at a record-low price.  The experience and expertise developed working in this challenging environment are vital resources for the UK’s journey to ‘Net Zero’.

“I look forward to the next stages of the project which will see the jackets and various turbine components begin to be marshalled at the local ports at Nigg and Invergordon prior to their installation as well as the installation of the three offshore substations, the inter array cables and the offshore export cable.

Contact Moray East Press Office – 07584 608842

Notes To Editors

Moray East Project Statistics

• Capacity: 950MW
• Location: UK, Moray Firth, closest point to shore, 22km from shore.
• Turbines: 100 V164 – 9.5MW
• Power for average requirements of ca. 950, 000 UK homes
• Moray East will generate sufficient electricity to save 1.4 million tonnes CO₂  equivalent annually (assuming displacement of gas generation)
• Power will be generated at £57.50/MWhr, the lowest cost of any new renewable generation and 2/3 less than offshore windfarms in operation around the UK today (typically upward of £140/MWhr).

Moray East Project Ownership & Finance

The 950MW wind farm is being developed by Moray Offshore Windfarm East Ltd (MOWEL), which is a joint venture company owned by Diamond Green Limited (33.4%), EDPR (33.3 %), ENGIE (23.3%) and CTG (10%).

The project financing agreements were signed on 28th November 2018 with a syndicate of commercial banks as well as EKF, Denmark’s Export Credit Agency (“EKF”) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (“JBIC”). The financing is composed of both project finance, which includes a senior debt facility of £2.1 billion, along with other debt facilities of £0.5 billion, and an equity bridge loan facility to cover part of the equity needs. Financial close occurred on 6th of December 2018.

In September 2017, MOWEL was awarded a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) for the delivery of 950MW of offshore wind generation at £57.5/MWh (2012 tariff-based). The wind farm is expected to be operational by 2022.

Moray East Project Timeline

• 2010 – project development commenced when development rights were won in the UK’s 3rd round of offshore wind licencing. The Moray Firth Zone (Zone 1) was split into two, Moray East and Moray West.   For technical reasons, Moray East  was developed first
• 2014 – planning consent was awarded by the Scottish Government (offshore works) and Aberdeenshire Council (onshore works)
• 2017 – A 950MW Contract for Difference (CfD) was won in the UK Government’s 2nd competitive CfD auction.  The CfD provides a contract for electricity for 15 years at £57.50/MWhr
• 2018 – project announced signing of finance agreements and achieves financial close
• 2019 – 2022 – construction & commencement of operation.

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Moray East Key Facts

• Consent for construction of up to 1,116MW granted in 2016
• CfD for 950MW awarded in 2017
• Connection to National Grid at a new substation to be constructed at New Deer in Aberdeenshire via underground cable (planning permission granted by Aberdeenshire Council in 2014)
• Total underground export cable corridor route 86km (52km offshore and 34km onshore)
• Total wind farm Area – 295km2
• Maximum turbine blade-tip height – 204m (669 feet)
• Minimum distance from shore – 22km (13.5 miles).

• 40%

  Of Scotland's electricity will be provided

• 1.7

  Million tonnes of CO2 emissions saved every year

• 1.43

  Million homes throughout the UK could be powered

• 500

  Kilometers of cabling will be installed across the site