Moray East

At a time when we’re all being blown to bits by the wind, it’s good to remember the positive aspects – like how Storm Diana helped to set a renewable energy record. And just this month, another seriously important piece of news: a landmark Scottish project has been agreed that could see the reduction of costs of offshore wind energy by as much as 60%.

Known as ‘Moray East’, the £2.6bn offshore wind farm will be built 14 miles off the Caithness coast, and deliver enough power for 950,000 homes – or 950MW. When the deal was struck in 2017 with the UK government it was to supply electricity at £57.50/MWh – which compares to other current projects charging around £140/MWh.

Moray East board director Dan Finch commented that this was a significant milestone. “Not only will it deliver plentiful, sustainable, renewable power, it will do so at a highly competitive price – to the economic advantage of both the household and the country.

“Offshore windfarms pay rent for the use of the sea bed – and last week we made our first payment of £6m to The Crown Estate (Scotland) – so the country is already benefiting before we have even produced a single unit of power.”

Construction will get underway next year, and will be supported by the delivery of 100 turbines from Danish firm MHI Vestas Offshore Wind. They signed a deal with Moray East for the V164-9.5 MW turbines, and a 15-year service agreement.

MHI Vestas CEO Philippe Kavafyan said he was looking forward to the future opportunities the project would brig. “We are pleased that Moray Easy has reached financial close. With the signing of the firm order, we can accelerate preparations for our company’s largest MW project to date.

“Installing the world’s most powerful commercial turbine, the V164-95 MW, in Moray Firth means more local, clean energy jobs in Scotland and across the UK – including our most recent expansion of blade production on the Isle of Wight.”

That’s to look forward to in the future – today we can celebrate the bountiful harvest of green energy we’re getting from the intense wind storms, (even if they do wreak havoc with our hair..) With Diana, National Grid reported that thousands of wind turbines were responsible for the UK’s greatest source of power across two consecutive days – delivering around 32%. It’s usually gas power stations at the top.

RenewableUK’s executive director Emma Pinchbeck said it was “great to see British wind power setting new records at one of the coldest, darkest, wettest times of the year, providing clean energy for people as they came home, switched everything on, turned up the power and cooked dinner”.

According to a recent Guardian report, windfarms are far from the original niche source they once were. They now supply almost 15% of supply. And while the Moray Firth is currently one to be excited about, a project off east Yorkshire is going to get all the headlines when it comes on in about 2020 – with a 1,218MW farm.