Caledonia is a large-scale offshore wind farm being developed by Ocean Winds (the EDPR/ENGIE 50:50 JV) in the outer Moray Firth, Scotland. The project is promoted as a roughly 2 GW development sited about 25–40 km offshore in water depths of roughly 40–100 m and is intended to nearly double Ocean...
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The February 2026 Notice to Mariners for Caledonia indicates that the Fugro-led geophysical survey campaign at the 2 GW Caledonia offshore wind farm site is expected to be completed by approximately 9 March 2026. Using the survey vessels Fugro Pioneer and Kommandor Iona, the work will conclude a concentrated mapping of seabed conditions within the Caledonia North and South array areas in the outer Moray Firth.
On 1 March 2026, Ocean Winds and Deltares announced completion of a detailed metocean study for the Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm site after two years of offshore surveys, data collection and analysis. The study establishes reliable meteorological and oceanographic conditions across both the Caledonia North and Caledonia South areas, providing a key input to the project’s design basis and helping to optimise structural and electrical design for the Moray Firth location.
According to a Notice to Mariners reported in February 2026, Fugro is scheduled to begin a new geophysical survey campaign within the Caledonia offshore wind turbine array area in the outer Moray Firth, with the vessel Fugro Pioneer expected on site from 14 February 2026 and Kommandor Iona joining from 24 February. The surveys, undertaken for Ocean Winds, will map seabed conditions across the roughly 429 km² Caledonia site, which lies 22 km off Wick to 38 km off Banff.
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Caledonia OfTI, Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm, Caledonia OWF, Caledonia North Offshore Wind Farm, Caledonia South Offshore Wind Farm, Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm Ltd, ScotWind NE4, NE4, Plan Option NE4
Caledonia submitted an additional EIA technical document, the Population Viability Analysis Technical Note for Caledonia North and South Offshore Wind Farms, to Marine Scotland to further inform the environmental assessment of the offshore consents.
Marine Scotland published an Additional Information Public Notice (2) for the Caledonia North and South offshore wind farm applications, initiating a further public consultation round on the newly submitted EIA additional information.
An onshore planning application identified as APP/2025/1930 was submitted for the Caledonia substation and associated onshore cable route near the existing SSEN New Deer substation in Aberdeenshire, forming part of the Caledonia Transmission onshore infrastructure. By March 2026, members of the public were submitting formal comments on this application, indicating that the planning process for the onshore substation connection and cable route was underway.
Further additional Environmental Impact Assessment material covering both Caledonia North and Caledonia South Offshore Wind Farms was submitted to Marine Scotland, providing updated information to support the determination of the offshore consents.
On 2 April 2025, GHD was selected to provide the electrical front-end engineering design (FEED) for the initial phase of the 2 GW Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm being developed by Ocean Winds in Scotland’s ScotWind leasing round. GHD’s UK-based teams will develop FEED for key electrical components, including inter-array cables, the offshore HVAC substation, export cables, landfall and transition bays, onshore cabling, and substation equipment, to support efficient and standardised design ahead of later procurement and construction decisions.
To enable the offshore transmission system for Caledonia, Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm Ltd submitted Transmission Marine Licence applications to the Marine Directorate – Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT) for the Offshore Transmission Infrastructure associated with the Caledonia North and Caledonia South phases. These licence applications, submitted alongside the Section 36 and generation marine licence applications and planned for 2024 in the project timeline, cover the offshore export cable and related transmission works needed to connect the wind farm to shore.
As part of its wider planning efforts, Caledonia submitted a separate application for a 3 km onshore underground cable linking the project’s substation at Burnside to the planned new National Grid substation at Greens, with supporting public information on the proposed route made available.
On 19 December 2024, Ocean Winds, developer of the 2 GW Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm, reported in its Supply Chain Impact Report that it plans to invest up to £3.5 billion in the UK across the lifetime of Caledonia, with more than £46 million already committed through supply chain-enabling investments to build critical competencies and infrastructure for the project.
Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm’s comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment Report (including offshore, onshore, intertidal and technical appendices for Caledonia North and South) was submitted to Marine Scotland, with the final EIAR volumes and appendices logged between late November and 3 December 2024 as part of the Section 36 and marine licence applications.
Marine Scotland issued public notices for the Caledonia North and Caledonia South offshore wind farm applications in the Moray Firth, opening the formal public consultation and representations period on the Section 36 and marine licence proposals.
Ocean Winds, through Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm, submitted applications for offshore planning consent to the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate for 2,000 MW of generating capacity in the outer Moray Firth, covering Section 36 consents and associated marine licences for the Caledonia North and Caledonia South sites.
Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm submitted its first planning consent application, covering the onshore transmission works including the substation and underground cables, to Aberdeenshire Council, marking the formal start of the onshore consenting process.
Following receipt of Caledonia’s onshore transmission planning application, Aberdeenshire Council started a formal public consultation on the proposed substation and underground cable works associated with the project.
By October 2024, Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm Ltd had completed an export cable routeing study for the Caledonia Transmission system, reviewing 10 shortlisted landfall locations and narrowing these to three preferred options, followed by additional technical and commercial appraisal. This process resulted in selection of Stake Ness as the preferred landfall site and refinement of the Offshore Export Cable Corridor (OECC) to focus the final approaches to shore at Stake Ness.
Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm Ltd (Ocean Winds) carried out a second round of pre-application public consultation for the Caledonia project, including the export cable landfall, onshore cable corridor in Aberdeenshire and new onshore substation near the existing New Deer substation. The consultation, documented in the Second Round Combined Consultation Materials issued on 18 October 2024, used in-person public exhibitions and an online virtual exhibition to inform local communities and invite feedback on the proposed electricity transmission infrastructure required to bring Caledonia’s power onshore.
On 18 October 2024, Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm Ltd finalised the "Caledonia South Statement of Need" (Application Document 16, Appendix 16-1), a system-need assessment supporting the consent application for the Caledonia South phase. The document sets out the role of up to 1.1 GW of capacity from Caledonia South in meeting Scotland’s and the wider UK’s decarbonisation, affordability, and security-of-supply objectives and argues for the project’s timely deployment in the late 2020s/early 2030s.
On 15 August 2024, Ocean Winds’ Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm awarded offshore wind engineering consultancy Wood Thilsted a contract to develop the structural concept design for the project’s turbine foundations, using extensive ground and metocean data gathered across the 429 km² site and lessons from the neighbouring Moray East and Moray West projects. The design work, described as Caledonia’s most significant design and engineering scope to date, is due to be completed by the end of 2024 to support subsequent engagement with the supply chain on foundation fabrication and installation.
A Notice of Pre-Application Consultation for the Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm was submitted to the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate (Marine Scotland), initiating the statutory pre-application public and stakeholder consultation process for the project in the Moray Firth.
In 2023, Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm Ltd undertook project data gathering and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) preparation, covering both offshore and onshore elements of the scheme, including the offshore export cable corridor and associated onshore transmission infrastructure needed to connect Caledonia to the National Electricity Transmission System. This work contributed to producing a single environmental report assessing onshore and offshore impacts for the phased development of Caledonia North and Caledonia South.
By 30 September 2022, Caledonia’s developer had prepared and submitted a Scoping Report for the Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm to the Scottish authorities, mapping key environmental and technical constraints across the Moray Firth project area and export route. The developer’s public engagement materials note that onshore and offshore scoping studies and associated surveys were undertaken to identify and mitigate potential impacts of the planned infrastructure on habitats and species.
In May 2022, Ocean Winds scheduled the first geophysical survey campaign for the Caledonia OWF array area, planning to start on or after 17 July 2022 in Q3 2022. The 44‑day campaign, supported by an EPS Risk Assessment, was to employ a range of geophysical techniques across the 429 km² site and its 1 km buffer in the outer Moray Firth to characterise seabed conditions for the future fixed-bottom wind farm.
On 17 January 2022, as part of the ScotWind leasing round, Crown Estate Scotland awarded Ocean Winds (the ENGIE/EDPR joint venture) an Option Agreement granting exclusive rights to develop the NE4 Plan Option in the outer Moray Firth, later named the 2 GW Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm. The award covers a roughly 429–440 km² site east of the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm and marks the formal seabed lease award for Caledonia.
The developer of the Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm and its associated transmission infrastructure, Ocean Winds, is described as a 50/50 joint venture created by EDP Renewables and Engie, confirming that the project developer is jointly owned by these two companies.
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