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Ocean Winds has completed three years of development work and submitted applications for offshore planning consent to the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate for the 2 GW Caledonia offshore wind farm in Scotland.
Caledonia, located in the outer Moray Firth, was awarded the site in 2022 as part of the Scottish government’s ScotWind process.
The offshore wind farm will cover an area of 423 square kilometres, situated in waters ranging from 40 to 100 metres in depth.
The project is planned to feature 140 wind turbines, each with a maximum capacity of 25 MW and a height of up to 355 metres.
According to the press release, the wind farm is expected to include up to four offshore substations, with a total generation capacity of 2,000 MW. This capacity could be delivered in two phases, Caledonia North and Caledonia South, each phase having a capacity ranging from 900 MW to 1,100 MW.
The renewable energy generated would be transmitted via four offshore export cables, with landfall at Stake Ness on the Aberdeenshire coast.
Recently, Ocean Winds completed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Caledonia offshore wind farm and submitted an onshore application to Aberdeenshire Council.
“Our consent application is a major milestone and comes after three years of intensive work to survey, research, study and model the natural and human environment of the Moray Firth to produce a high-quality Environmental Impact Assessment Report and I would like to thank everyone who has engaged with us to make this possible”, said Aleks Schmidt-Sweetingham , Offshore Consent Manager.
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Caledonia will be Ocean Winds’ third development in the Moray Firth, joining Moray East , which came online in 2020, and Moray West, which achieved first power in July this year.
The 2 GW project, which is expected to be operational in 2030, will double offshore wind generation in the Moray Firth, the UK.
“Our site and situation mean that not only can each phase of Caledonia be built with commercially established fixed foundation technology which we have optimised for cost at Moray East & Moray West, both sites can also be connected to shore using established AC technology. This frees Caledonia from delays caused by the lengthy waiting lists in the global DC supply chain, and means foundations are available from already-proven existing suppliers”, said Mark Baxter , Caledonia Project Director.
“There is also an opportunity to deploy floating structures in the south of the site to create a further springboard for the growth of floating offshore wind in Scotland.”
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