This October, we were very proud to perform at the launch of Hywind – the world’s first floating wind farm, tethered 15 miles off the coast near Aberdeen, Scotland.
We performed just before Nicola Sturgeon MP took to the stage to give a speech about this incredible project that opens up new areas of the world for cleaner wind energy.
The project has been 16 years in the making and grew from an initial idea scribbled on a napkin to a huge project involving companies from Abu Dhabi (Masdar), Norway (Statoil), Scotland and Spain. The floating windfarms work in water from 100 to 700 metres deep, so can be placed farther out to sea than fixed-bottom turbines. The exciting part is these floating windfarms will work in water depths of between 100 and 700 metres so could be placed farther out to sea than fixed-bottom turbines. This opens up new areas of the world for cleaner wind energy.
Currently the Hywind farm has the capacity to generate 30 MW of electricity – powering roughly 22,000 Scottish households.