Five wind turbines will float off the Scottish coast to produce enough electricity to power about 20,000 homes
After the largest tidal power plant in the world that is under construction in Scotland, the Scottish Government has announced the construction of the largest offshore wind farm in the world.
The largest floating wind farm in the world is ready to be installed 25 kilometers off the coast of Peterhead, north of Aberdeen, at the easternmost point of Scotland. The pilot park, called Hywind will be developed by the Norwegian energy company Statoil (by investing 215 million euros) and should produce enough electricity to power about 20,000 homes in at the end of 2017.
Scotland could become self-sufficient in renewable energy in 2030
This park, which will serve as a test, would consist of five turbines Hywind six megawatts each, can produce 135GWh of electricity annually. Unlike land wind turbines, Hywind turbine will be anchored to the seabed and will forward their electricity generated by submarine cable to shore. Each turbine will measure between 170 and 200 meters high, counting from 70 to 90 meters for the flotation system, but all will have the advantage of not being visible from the coast.
According to the Carbon Trust research, the projects floating wind farms would reduce production costs of offshore wind development from an average of $172.61 per megawatt hour to below $154 per megawatt hour. Another report, commissioned by the Energy Technologies Institute, found that floating wind power can be a safe and economical energy source that costs less than $131 per megawatt-hour in the mid-2020s.
Meanwhile, Scotland is making major strides in this direction and could become independent of fossil fuels by 2030, according to a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund.
