First Power

In the early hours of Monday 21 August 2022, the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm achieved first power when the first of 114 Vestas V164-10 MW turbines was commissioned and exported electricity to the National Grid. The 1,075 MW project, located 27 km off the Angus coast in the outer Firth of Forth, is jointly owned by SSE Renewables (49%) and TotalEnergies (51% at the time of first power; PTTEP later acquired a 25.5% stake from TotalEnergies). Seagreen is Scotland's largest offshore wind farm and was the world's deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind installation when commissioned, with turbines installed in water depths of up to 59 metres on jacket foundations. The project secured a 15-year CfD at £41.61/MWh (2012 prices) under AR3 in 2019. Onshore civil works began in 2020 and the offshore export cable was installed in 2021 ahead of foundation and turbine installation campaigns. The first power milestone was announced by TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables on 22 August 2022 (with the Paris dateline release dated 23 August 2022) as a significant step toward Scotland's net zero ambitions. Seagreen is expected to produce around 5 TWh of renewable electricity per year — enough to power the equivalent of 1.6 million UK households. Following first power, the remaining 113 turbines were commissioned over the subsequent fourteen months, with full commercial operation achieved on 17 October 2023.