Highlands Ardersier port chosen as base by major North Sea wind power developer
The port at Ardesier has secured a major new client in the form of an offshore wind power developer who has chosen it for deployment of its upcoming projects.
Cerulean Winds says it opted for the Haventus-owned Ardersier Energy Transition Facility to accelerate opportunities for floating offshore wind in Scotland.
Cerulean currently has 3GW of schemes in floating wind power under development in the central North Sea.
Still under development but due to open later this year the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility has secured £400million of funding, including a £100 million credit facility from the UK National Wealth Fund and Scottish National Investment Bank.
When complete it will be Scotland's largest offshore wind facility on the North Sea coast.
Cerulean believes its commitment to using the facility marks a major step toward realising the UK and Scottish governments' vision of creating a world-leading floating offshore wind (FLOW) industrial base.
It has been predicted that, by 2050, FLOW could contribute more than £47 billion to the UK economy and employ 100,000 people.
Cerulean’s first project will be the Aspen development, a 1GW wind farm in the central North Sea approximately 100km from shore, that is targeting first power between 2028-29.
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The project is designed to enable Scotland’s supply chain and direct more than £1 billion of investment in FLOW manufacturing and service support in the country, with the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility acting as a strategic hub.
Dan Jackson, founding director of Cerulean Winds, said: “This is an important moment for the future of the UK’s floating offshore wind industry.
The UK and Scottish governments have been very supportive, however more is needed.
“We must act now to capture the domestic economic benefits. If too slow, the building and maintenance of this new technology will become entrenched in established international supply chains before the bow wave of the ScotWind projects even begin, with supply chains rapidly consolidating around early-mover regions in the North Sea and Asia.”
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Cerulean Winds believes FLOW has a key role to play in addressing the UK government’s industrial growth plan including the establishment of industrial-scale port clusters and a FLOW manufacturing supply chain as well as contributing to the UK’s clean energy pipeline.
Lewis Gillies, chief executive of Haventus, said: “Ardersier Energy Transition Facility will be operational by late 2025 and will be capable of supporting the deployment of multiple gigawatt-scale offshore wind projects.
“We are delighted that Cerulean Winds has selected Ardersier as its chosen facility, strengthening our intent to increase green jobs in Scotland, achieve economic growth and support oil and gas operators in the North Sea to rapidly decarbonise their operations.”
The Ardersier site is part of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and it is the intention that it will become the UK's first FLOW manufacturing hub, creating hundreds of jobs and establishing a vital industrial base.
From here, developers will produce and service floating foundations.
