The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Turbines turn as world’s most powerful wind farm opened
Site off Aberdeen coast can produce electricity to power 80,000 homes a year
A “groundbreaking” offshore wind farm that faced opposition from Donald Trump has been officially opened by Scotland’s first minister.
Vattenfall’s European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) off the coast of Aberdeen exported to the national grid for the first time in July.
Two of its 11 turbines are said to be the most powerful in the world, generating enough energy with a single rotation to power an average home for one day.
The wind farm, situated around 1.5 miles from the shore, is expected to produce enough electricity to meet the demand of almost 80,000 homes a year.
More than 100 business leaders and dignitaries joined Nicola Sturgeon and staff from Swedish-owned Vattenfall at an opening ceremony on board a NorthLink Ferries vessel yesterday.
Ms Sturgeon said: “I am proud that as part of this groundbreaking project, the world’s most powerful offshore wind turbines are now up and running in Scotland.
“The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre will maintain Scotland’s reputation for innovation in low-carbon and renewable energy development and deployment.
“A single rotation of one of these 8.8mw turbines will generate enough energy to power a home for 24 hours, which truly shows the potential of this technology to strengthen Scotland’s renewable energy-generating capacity in the future.”
The 11 turbines include two 8.8 megawatt (mw) turbines standing 191 metres tall, which are the most powerful operating anywhere on the planet.
The project has a total capacity of 93.2mw, enough to meet the electricity needs of 70% of households in Aberdeen, industry association RenewableUK said.
The first of the turbine foundations was installed in the seabed in March, with the final turbine put in place at the end of May.
It was connected to the national grid after more than four miles of high voltage underground cable were laid from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks’ substation in Dyce and the wind farm’s onshore substation at Blackdog.
The world’s most powerful turbines are up and running