Fugro is set to deploy its Seawatch floating LiDAR, surface metocean equipment buoys and seabed landers at the offshore site in Scotland where ScottishPower Renewables plans to build its 2 GW MachairWind offshore wind farm, with seabed surveys scheduled to start this summer.
Using the Forth Warrior vessel, this month, Fugro will install the equipment at two separate locations within the project area which ScottishPower Renewables secured in the ScotWind seabed leasing round in 2022.
The developer was awarded seabed rights for three projects in last year’s auction in Scotland, two of which are for floating wind projects being developed in partnership with Shell, the 3 GW MarramWind off the north-east coast of Scotland and the 2 GW CampionWind off the east coast of Scotland.
The 2 GW MachairWind, whose wind turbines will be installed on fixed-bottom foundations, is planned to be built off the coast of Islay.
In the summer of this year, ScottishPower Renewables plans to commence geophysical and environmental survey works within the wind farm development area to gather data about the seabed conditions. Further survey work of this kind is planned for next summer, both within the wind farm array area and the export cable corridor.
MachairWind’s export cable will connect to a substation at an onshore location on the mainland of southwest Scotland, with National Grid expected to confirm where this connection point will be in 2023.
According to information about the project on ScottishPower Renewables’ website, the specific type of wind turbine that will be used is yet to be determined and the number of turbines will depend on the technology selected as part of the future detailed project design.
The developer aims to submit an application for planning consent around the mid-2020s and to start construction on the MachairWind project in the mid-to-late 2020s.