Fid Financial Close

On 21 July 2016, Vattenfall took the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) in Aberdeen Bay, committing to proceed with construction of the 11‑turbine offshore wind farm. Contemporary coverage describes this as a £300 million investment in what Vattenfall termed a test and demonstration facility, with a total capacity of around 92–96.8 MW and designed as a centre for testing and developing new offshore wind technologies. The company simultaneously assumed full ownership of the project by buying out Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group’s 25% share. A Vattenfall‑funded socio‑economic monitoring study later confirmed that community engagement activities began “since the Final Investment Decision (FID) in July 2016,” reinforcing this timing. The FID followed years of legal challenges mounted by Donald Trump over the project’s visual impact on his nearby golf resort, which Vattenfall ultimately overcame in the UK Supreme Court. Despite the UK’s EU referendum result raising uncertainty over a €40 million EU grant, Vattenfall confirmed it would press ahead, with onshore construction scheduled to start later in 2016, offshore works in late 2017, and first power targeted for 2018. The investment decision was welcomed by the Scottish government and industry bodies as a vote of confidence in Scotland’s offshore wind sector and its innovation agenda. With FID secured and funding committed, the project could transition from development into physical construction, enabling it to fulfil its role as a key test bed for cost‑reduction and technology advancement in offshore wind.