Our preferred option to connect Buchan Offshore Wind to Peterhead is for the subsea cables to come ashore at Rattray, located south of the Loch of Strathbeg Nature Reserve and north of the St Fergus Gas Terminal and its associated offshore pipelines.
We selected this location after careful consideration and appraisal of several sites along the Aberdeenshire Coast, examining environmental constraints, intertidal and onshore infrastructure requirements and engineering and geotechnical constraints.
We will need to build a transition bay near the landfall point, to connect the offshore cables to onshore cables. This will be underground, and the land will be reinstated once construction is complete.
We identified several potential routes for underground cables between the landfall point and Peterhead, and assessed each in terms of technical suitability and how it might impact the environment, biodiversity, hydrology, cultural heritage, land use and proximity to homes.
Our preferred underground cable route heads west from the landfall point, crossing the A90 near Keyhead before turning south, passing between St Fergus Moss and the St Fergus gas terminal. It crosses under the River Ugie and passes between the former RAF airfield and Blackhills before turning south-east to arrive at a new project substation, in the Peterhead area.
We are currently considering potential sites for the new substation. These can be viewed on our interactive map below.