The UK’s Amec engineering firm has won a contract to design and build the world’s first deepwater wind turbines in the Moray Firth, Scotland.
The contract is part of a £24 million ($44.8 million) project to develop a windfarm adjacent to the Beatrice oil field. It is being backed by Talisman Energy and Scottish & Southern Energy, together with the Scottish Executive, the Department of Trade and Industry and the European Union.
Talisman and Scottish & Southern are each contributing £7 million ($13 million), the DTI and the SE are each giving £3 million ($5.6 million) and £4 million ($7.8 million) will come from the EC.
Given planning approvals, construction will begin next year and commissioning by late summer 2006. Two 5 MW turbines will be sited in 45 m of water as part of a demonstration programme which will last five years.
