Energy and marine consultancy company ABL will provide marine warranty survey (MWS) services for the Inch Cape offshore wind farm during the entire construction period of the 1.1 GW project in Scotland.
ABL will act as marine warranty surveyor for the transport and installation of the jacket and monopile foundations, offshore substation platform, wind turbines, as well as export and inter-array cables.
The MWS work will include a review of all relevant documentation, vessel inspections and certification of components and vessel equipment. ABL has been involved with the Inch Cape project since 2019, supporting the early phase planning and development of the project.
Owned and developed by a joint venture between ESB and Red Rock Renewables, Inch Cape was first awarded planning consent in 2014. The offshore wind farm has a 50-year lease with Crown Estate Scotland and secured 15-year contracts with the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) through the UK government’s Contract for Difference (CfD) auctions in 2022 and 2024 .
In January this year, the developers reached financial close on the project, moving it into the construction phase, with offshore work now underway.
The installation of Inch Cape’s offshore substation platform will take place in late summer 2025 and the project is set for completion in 2027, according to ABL.
Located in the North Sea 15 kilometres off the Angus coast, the Inch Cape offshore wind farm will be the first UK project to use Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbines .
The 1,080 MW project will comprise 72 turbines on a mix of monopile and jacket foundations, a single offshore substation platform, and two 85-kilometre AC export cables, delivering power to an onshore substation , currently under construction at Cockenzie, East Lothian.