Neart na Gaoithe Construction to Start This Year

The construction of the 450MW Neart na Gaoithe wind farm offshore Scotland is planned to begin later this year, EDF Renewables in the UK said.

The company has opened an extension to its existing office in Edinburgh to accommodate 60 new jobs created on the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm project.

Derek Mackay MSP, the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work, marked the official opening on Thursday, 16 May.

The company will increase its Edinburgh team from 44 to over 100 at the Atria One building in Scotland’s capital city.

A large number of the new team members have a particular focus on the 450MW Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind farm.

“This is an exciting time for EDF Renewables in the UK and today’s announcement is another example of our continued commitment to Scotland,” Matthieu Hue, CEO of EDF Renewables in the UK, said.

“We continue to actively seek routes-to-market for onshore projects in Scotland as well as looking at more opportunities for offshore wind and battery storage. We are focused on our remote island wind project in Stornoway and have more than 2 GW of projects in our development pipeline which demonstrates how important Scotland is to us.”

EDF bought the 450MW project from Mainstream Renewable Power in May 2018. The total investment needed to deliver the project located some 15 kilometres off the Fife coast is around GBP 1.8 billion.

The wind farm is fully consented and was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) by the Low Carbon Contracts Company in February 2015. The project’s 15-year CfD is set at EUR 140 (corresponding to the indexation of the tariff of £114.39 that was set in 2012 prices), and has grid connection agreements in place.

The wind farm will comprise up to 54 wind turbines scheduled for commissioning by 2023.