The 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm project reached another milestone with the recent breaking of ground near Portgordon in Moray, Scotland, SSE reports.
Enabling works are now underway at the main onshore construction compound near the cable landfall point for the route to Blackhillock.
Work on the Operations and Maintenance site based in two historic Thomas Telford buildings in Wick will start in January 2017, subject to planning consent.
A recent event with Wick’s local community saw residents welcome the plans to renovate the buildings and return them to their originally intended maritime use, SSE said.
Beatrice is located in the Outer Moray Firth on the North Western point of the Smith Bank, approximately 13 km off the Caithness coastline. The development site will cover an approximate area of up to 130km and will consist of 84 WTG Jacket Substructures for Siemens 7MW turbines.
The wind farm is owned by SSE (40%), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) (35%) and Red Rock Power Ltd. (25%).
The project was given the final go ahead in May 2016 with construction also recently starting at the substation at Blackhillock.
Key component manufacturing is underway with offshore construction work starting in 2017. The project is expected to be fully operational in 2019.