The Energy Transition Facility should be operational before the end of this year, bringing hundreds of new jobs
Cerulean Winds, the lead developer of more than 3GW-worth of UK floating offshore wind, has chosen Ardersier as its deployment port.
The under-construction Ardersier Energy Transition Facility, owned by Haventus, has already secured £400m of funding to become Scotland’s largest offshore wind facility on the North Sea coast.
The Cerulean alliance’s first project will be the Aspen development, a 1GW wind farm in the Central North Sea, approximately 100km from shore, that is targeting first power between 2028 and 2029.
“We are delighted that Cerulean Winds has selected Ardersier as its chosen facility, strengthening our intent to increase green jobs in Scotland, achieve economic growth and support oil and gas operators in the North Sea to rapidly decarbonise their operations.”
It is the intent that Ardersier will become the UK’s first floating offshore wind manufacturing hub, creating hundreds of jobs and establishing an industrial base near Inverness.
Dan Jackson, founding director of Cerulean Winds, said: “The UK and Scottish Governments have been very supportive, however more is needed.
“We must act now to capture the domestic economic benefits – if too slow, the building and maintenance of this new technology will become entrenched in established international supply chains before the bow wave of the ScotWind projects even begin, with supply chains rapidly consolidating around early-mover regions in the North Sea and Asia.”