A windfarm off the coast of Fife has begun generating electricity for the National Grid.
Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) is located 15.5km from the shore and when complete will consist of 54 wind turbines generating up to 450 MW of clean, green electricity, enough to power around 375,000 homes.
NnG, which is owned by EDF Renewables UK and ESB, will offset over 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, its owners say.
It is expected to be completed and fully commissioned by summer 2025.
Over the lifespan of the farm around 50 jobs are expected to be created, based at the command centre overlooking Eyemouth Harbour.
Read More:
-
Offshore wind opportunity 'squandered' by Scottish Government says Labour
-
The rebel community councils taking control of the 'windfall' of wind farm funds
-
Permission sought for huge wind farm off the coast of Aberdeenshire
The owners of the project say they look to work with local businesses where possible, including Forth Ports at the Port of Dundee, I&H Brown, Briggs Marine and Muir Construction Ltd.
They have also contributed to 24 community projects to date, such as the Berwickshire Marine Trust, Dunbar Youth Football Club, Crail Garden Co-op and the Anstruther Philharmonic Society.
NnG project director, Matthias Haag, said: “This is great for the project and is a positive step in achieving the country’s net zero targets.
“We have worked closely with the local communities and we thank them for their patience as we’ve progressed towards this milestone. This is the beginning of a new chapter in the life story of NnG as we work to completion.”
Ryanne Burges, director of offshore and Ireland for EDF Renewables, said: “We are delighted to celebrate this significant milestone for NnG and over the coming months we look forward to even more clean electricity being sent to the grid.
“NnG is a pivotal project in the EDF Renewables UK and Ireland portfolio as we accelerate towards a net zero future where clean energy powers our lives.
“It will continue to bring significant benefits to local communities across the east coast of Scotland through support for local projects and initiatives, the supply chain and through local jobs for local people.”
Paul Lennon, head of offshore wind and hydrogen at ESB said: “NnG is an important project for ESB and we welcome the much-anticipated export of first power from the project. We look forward to the wind farm becoming fully operational next year.
“It will contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions from UK electricity generation, play an important part in the economy of the east coast of Scotland and in turn help deliver on ESB’s net zero ambitions.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel