A joint venture between BayWa r.e, Elicio and BW Ideol, Buchan Offshore Wind was awarded its site through the ScotWind leasing process launched by Crown Estate Scotland (CES) to facilitate the expansion of offshore wind in Scotland.
ScotWind was delivered in response to the Scottish Government's target of net-zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045 and the aim to generate 50% of Scotland's overall energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030. Buchan Offshore Wind was awarded ScotWind NE8 Plan Option, which covers an area of 330 km2.
Floating offshore technology
The wind turbines will be fixed to floating concrete barges which will be moored and anchored to the seabed using BW Ideol's Damping Pool technology, which has already been successfully installed off the coasts of France and Japan.
The serial production of foundations and turbine assembly will take place in Scotland. BW Ideol have prepared detailed plans for the proposed manufacture of concrete floating foundations at Ardersier. It is expected that more than 1000 staff will be employed locally in Scotland for the manufacturing of the floating foundations.
Offshore substations
Offshore substations will collect energy generated by the turbines for transmission via subsea cables and an offshore intermediate reactive compensation (IRC) platform to a landfall location at Rattray, on the Aberdeenshire coast.
Onshore connection
At landfall the subsea cables will enter a transition bay, and then onshore underground cables will transport the electricity to the project's substation, near Peterhead. Here it will be converted to 400kV (400,000 volts) for onward transmission via underground cables to join the national transmission network.
The exact point of connection will be determined following the conclusion of a study by National Grid ESO (Electricity System Operator). Their Holistic Network Design Follow-Up Exercise (HND-FUE) is looking at the best way to connect all the ScotWind projects, and other new power generation, to the network.
