Monday 20th March 2023. Thistle Wind Partners (TWP), a consortium founded by DEME Concessions, Qair and Aspiravi, has announced the final names for its two ScotWind projects.
The 1GW Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm will be located off the coast of Stonehaven, lying 44km out from the landmark of Bowdun Head and covering an area of 187km2 (in the E3 leasing zone). The project will number between 50 and 60 jacket-foundation turbines with an individual capacity of 18-25MW each (depending upon final design choices).
The second wind farm, located 33km from the East Mainland of Orkney in the NE2 leasing zone, is named the Ayre Offshore Wind Farm. This will be a 1GW floating wind project following a similar base case for turbine numbers and capacity as Bowdun.
Both projects are currently in the consenting phase with bird and mammal surveys already underway using high-precision technologies from environmental consultancy APEM, which uses LiDAR to measure bird flight heights to within 10cm accuracy. This surveying work will continue, alongside metocean, geophysical, benthic and geotechnical surveys, for the next two years.
Construction of both wind farms will commence in 2029, with the Ayre Floating Offshore Wind Farm being built in two separate phases. Both will be fully commissioned, providing enough energy to power 2.4 million households, by 2033.
“We started our supply chain engagement early last year and are about to commence community outreach in Orkney and Aberdeenshire,” says TWP Project Director Ian Taylor.
“We did need to find some easily recognisable names for the sites before ramping up our external activities. We chose to name the sites after well-known coastal headlands, as they physically point out towards our wind farms, acting as good markers for location.
“With the wind farm expected to have a ten-year development period and then be in the water for a further 25 years or more, we hope to build long-term relationships with businesses and communities in the region.”
TWP is one of the funders of a new initiative from the University of Highlands & Islands to deliver a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) outreach programme for primary schools in Scotland, providing materials and teacher training.
