Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm

Wind Project Site

Title: Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm

Status:

In Operation

Project Manager:

Cobra

Turbine Developer:

Vestas Wind Systems A/S

Foundation Manufacturer:

Navantia, Principle Power, WINDAR Renovables

Website:

External Link

Construction Start:

January 1, 2018

Operation Start:

January 1, 2021

Info Last Updated:

July 24, 2024

Contact:

Info
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Details

Technology:

Floating Offshore Wind

Project Scale:

Demonstration, Commercial Farm

Turbine Model:

V164-9.525 (x5), V80-2.0 (x1)

Hub Height:

105 m

Rotor Diameter:

164 m, 80 m

Number of Turbines:

Capacity per Turbine:

9.5 MW (x5), 2 MW (x1)

Installed Capacity:

50 MW

Support Structure:

Catenary Mooring, Semi-Submersible, Drag Embedment Anchor

Inter-Array Cables:

33 kV

Export Cables:

AC, Buried Seafloor Cables

Export Cable Voltage:

33 kV

Number of Export Cables:

Cable Landfall:

Horizontal Directional Drill

Physical Site:

Deep Water (>60m), Marine, Soft-Bottom Habitat

Water Depth:

60-80 m

Distance from Shore:

15 km

Country:

United Kingdom

Description

Kincardine is the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. It consists of five 9.5 MW turbines and a single 2 MW turbine which floats on a triangular-shaped semi-submersible WindFloatTM foundation produced by Principle Power. The 9.5 MW turbines, the highest capacity wind turbines ever installed on floating platform, float on foundations produced by a Navantia-Windar joint venture. The foundations are each moored via four mooring lines, and inter-array cables installed between turbines consist of buoyancy modules generating a “lazy wave” profile. The wind farm became fully operational in 2021. Kincardine will generate over 200 GWh of green electricity a year, enough renewable electricity to power more than 50,000 Scottish households. Cobra Wind, a subsidiary of Cobra Group, has been responsible for the delivery of the project, including engineering, construction, installation, and commissioning.

Location

Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm is located 15 km off the southeast coast of Kincardineshire (Scotland), in the Aberdeen Bay. The project covers 110 square km in water depths ranging between 60 and 80 m.

Licensing Information

2021: Scottish Government, European Protected Species (EPS) License application
2020: Scottish Government, Marine Licence – Removal of dropped anchor weight
2017: Scottish Government, Section 36 (Environmental Impact Assessment) Consent Decision Approved
2017: Scottish Government, Marine Licence – Construction and operation of generating station

Project Timeline

2021: Fully commissioned and operational
2018: First turbine installation. First power connected to grid in October.
2019: Fabrication of the five WindFloat® units started
2017: Scottish government gives final approval to construct and operate Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm
2016: Environmental Statement produced
2016: Cobra Group becomes main investor in Kincardine Offshore Wind
2014: Kincardine Offshore Ltd. Is established by Cobra Group

Key Environmental Issues

The Kincardine Environmental Management Plan (EMP) outlines environmental monitoring and mitigation strategies that were undertaken during the construction and operation of Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm. Noise levels were monitored during the initial year of operation in varying sea-states and operational conditions to identify the impact of the floating offshore wind turbine generators. Sensitive fish, shellfish, and spawning seasons were avoided as possible during construction, and trained marine mammal observers were present on vessels to advise on environmental best practices and search for marine mammals prior to activities commencing. Cable installation was also split between two years to minimize impact to breeding birds near the cliff face 100m away.

Additionally, all Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm Ltd. (KOWL) and subcontracted staff received environmental awareness training including waste management and spill response. Procedures were put in place requiring staff to respond immediately to any environmental or pollution incidents and notify KOWL within 30 minutes.

Metadata Documents

Characterisation of underwater operational noise of two types of floating offshore wind turbines (Risch et al. 2023)
A review to inform the assessment of the risk of collision and displacement in petrels and shearwaters from offshore wind developments in Scotland (Deakin et al. 2022)
Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm Cable Plan (West et al. 2020)
Project Environmental Monitoring Plan: Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Project (Kincardine Offshore Wind Ltd 2019)
Environmental Management Plan (EMP): Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm Project (Kincardine Offshore Wind Ltd 2018)
Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm Environmental Statement (Atkins 2016)
Strategic assessment of collision risk of Scottish offshore wind farms to migrating birds (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) 2014)
Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm Environmental Scoping Assessment (Atkins 2014)

Phase	Stressor & Receptor	Design and Methods	Results	Publications	Data
Baseline	Birds	Collision Risk Modeling UK seabird and non-seabird species populations potentially at risk from collision with turbines at Scottish offshore wind farm sites were shortlisted, proportions of the populations likely to pass the wind farm sites estimated, and collision risk modeling performed.	Complete Great black-backed gull and herring gull had mortality rates over 1% of their respective migrant populations. However, overall bird migration through Scottish waters was not found to be at risk of significant levels of additional mortality due to collisions with Scottish offshore wind farms.	Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) 2014	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds, Marine Mammals	Aerial surveys From May 2013 to September 2014, strip transects were flown across the survey area once each month. Surveys used HiDef Gen II cameras.	Complete 32,960 birds of 20 species were recorded, and an additional 138 non-avian animals of seven species were recorded.	HiDef Aerial Surveying Ltd 2016	Contact HiDef for data.
Baseline	Ecosystem Processes	Fisheries baseline assessment Fisheries statistics for the lease area are compiled from data provided by the Scottish Marine Management Organization (MMO) and Marine Scotland.	Complete Values of fish landings are provided for all waters around Scotland. The majority of local landings are lobster and edible crab, and scallops. Squid are also recorded.	Atkins 2016	UK fisheries data
Baseline	Physical Environment	Grab samples Grab sampling was undertaken for the purpose of particle size analysis. Ten samples were collected, eight of which were along the cable corridor and two of which were inside of the proposed wind farm area.	Complete Sediment was characterized as very fine, fine, or medium-grained sand.	Donald 2016	No data publicly available.
Operations	Habitat Change Physical Environment	Bathymetry surveying Surveys of the cable route using ROV or vessel-mounted sensors such as sonar will occur twice annually during the wind farm’s operational phase, potentially decreasing in frequency toward the end of the wind farm’s lifespan.	Planned Results Pending	Kincardine Offshore Wind Ltd 2018	No data publicly available.
Construction	Noise Marine Mammals	Passive Acoustic Monitoring Hydrophones and echolocation click detectors were deployed at both Kincardine and Hywind floating offshore wind farms. Deployments lasted approximately one month.	Complete Noise was concentrated at a frequency of less than 200 Hz, and it was mostly due to impacts from mooring lines during higher wind speed events. Sources for turbine operational noise also increased during higher wind speeds. Reduced porpoise noises were recorded near to the wind farms as opposed to further away.	Risch et al. 2023	No data publicly available.