The Port of Nigg selected as marshalling, storage and logistics base for foundation structures for Seagreen Offshore Windfarm

SSE Renewables and Total have announced that Global Energy Group’s (GEG) Port of Nigg near Inverness, Scotland, has been selected as the marshalling, storage and logistics base for 114 wind turbine foundation structures destined for the 1,075 MW Seagreen Offshore Windfarm being constructed in Scotland’s Firth of Forth.

The offshore wind contract award will support 141 skilled jobs at Port of Nigg in Tain during peak construction, including work for 93 permanent roles already on-site as well as the creation of an additional 48 new roles at the port, delivering a green jobs boost to the Scottish Highlands. Recruitment for the new roles at Port of Nigg will begin in the coming months and opportunities will be advertised on Global Energy Group’s recruitment and social media channels.

The 1,075MW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm project is located 27km off the coast of Angus in the North Sea firth. A £3bn joint venture between Total and SSE Renewables, Seagreen will be Scotland’s largest and deepest offshore wind farm when complete. It will provide enough green energy to power more than 1.6 million homes, equivalent to two-thirds of all Scottish homes. Seagreen will displace over 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from electricity generated by fossil fuels every year – similar to removing more than a third of all of Scotland’s annual car emissions and making a significant contribution to Scotland’s net-zero ambition by 2045*.

Seagreen’s foundation and inter-array cable Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation contractor, Seaway 7, on behalf of development partners SSE Renewables and Total, has appointed Scotland-based Global Energy Group to run marshalling and logistics out of GEG’s Port of Nigg.

Scotland’s Energy Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, welcomed the contract as a further boost to Scottish offshore renewables and the country’s green recovery:

“I warmly welcome this announcement today. This contract provides a further boost to Scotland’s growing offshore renewables industry, sustaining existing jobs and delivering new, skilled jobs to the area and supporting Scotland’s green recovery from COVID-19 – a high priority of this Government. It is a testament to the skills and expertise of all those who work at the Port of Nigg, and I know the team at Nigg are well-regarded globally for their knowledge in the offshore and marine energy sectors.

“This, coupled with the launch of Crown Estate Scotland’s first ScotWind leasing round, marks a significant step as we push forward with our ambitious and World-leading plans to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the offshore renewables sector in Scotland and our recent Offshore Wind Policy Statement and our Sectoral Marine Plan for offshore wind are both geared towards seeing 11GW of offshore wind generation capacity being installed in Scottish waters by 2030, with scope for further growth beyond that. We are working hard to ensure that we support the supply chain to increase the contract value it secures from these future offshore wind opportunities and this latest contract win will help further enhance the Port of Nigg’s strong track record and capabilities.”

Foundation installation at Seagreen is expected to commence in the second half of 2021 and last for a period of 12 months. The marshalling and logistics activity will see the delivery of Seagreen’s 114 foundation structures to the Highlands port via Heavy Transport Vessels (HTVs), prior to shipping out to the North Sea for installation. After jacket foundations are installed, Vestas V164-10 MW turbines will be positioned on each of the 114 bases.

SSE Renewables, which owns 49% of Seagreen, is leading on the development and construction of the joint venture project, supported by Total which owns 51%. SSE Renewables will operate Seagreen on completion. First power is expected by the end of 2021 with the offshore wind farm expected to enter commercial operation in 2022/23.

Paul Cooley, Director of Capital Projects at SSE Renewables, said:

“Today’s announcement is great news for Scotland and puts Scottish offshore wind to the fore of the country’s green economic recovery. This major construction contract at Port of Nigg for Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm will create 48 new local jobs out of a total 141 roles that will be required to support this important delivery phase of what will become Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm when complete.

“Since the start of 2020 SSE Renewables has begun construction on three crucial offshore and onshore wind projects here in Scotland with a combined investment total of around £3.5 billion; including Seagreen, our joint venture with Total. Once operational these Scottish projects will provide clean power for more than half the homes in Scotland. And importantly, these low carbon projects are powering a green, economic recovery right now through their support of more than 1,000 high value green jobs in Scotland, including direct, contractor and supply chain roles.”

Tim Cornelius, CEO of Global Energy Group, commented:

“The heavy load bearing capacity and deep-water quayside together with the facility’s strategic location and onsite, experienced, support services make the Port of Nigg the ideal choice for the execution of projects of this scale. We are delighted to be supporting Seaway 7 on the Seagreen Project on behalf of SSE Renewables and Total and look forward to welcoming the foundation structures to our facility.”

Steph McNeill, Executive Vice President – Renewables at Seaway 7, said:

“We are looking forward to continuing our successful, collaborative relationship with SSE Renewables, Total and Global Energy Group as we help construct Seagreen. We have been active in the UK renewables sector for over a decade and are very pleased to continue to support the ongoing energy transition in the UK, bringing our offshore wind expertise to the largest offshore wind project in Scotland.”

Global Energy Group is one of the UK’s leading energy services providers and the owner and operator of Port of Nigg. The Highland-based port is fast becoming one of the leading hubs for the international offshore wind sector. Port of Nigg was previously selected by SSE Renewables for marshalling activities during its construction of the 588MW Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, currently Scotland’s largest offshore renewable generation site.

In December Seagreen’s development and construction lead SSE Renewables announced up to 30 new jobs would be created on the construction, currently underway, of the Operations base for the wind farm at Montrose Port. Once the offshore wind farm is commissioned, the Seagreen Operations and Maintenance (O&M) base in Montrose will be home to up to 120 full-time operational roles including up to 60 Vestas personnel working to maintain the wind farm’s turbines both from the O&M base and on offshore service operations vessels.