Turbines for first floating wind farm head to Scotland

The world's first floating wind farm will be set up 15 miles off Scotland's north-east coast. Picture: Hyvind Hagen/Statoil ASA

Giant turbines are on the move to Scotland to create the world's first full-scale floating wind farm.

New technology enables the structures to float in water which is too deep for conventional offshore wind farms.

The first of the 11,500-tonne turbines has been put in place at the Hywind development at Buchan Deep, which lies 15 miles off the north-east coast at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

Comment: Floating wind farm key to Scots sustainable energy

The device was towed across from Norway, where four more are waiting to be brought over for the trial scheme which is expected to power about 20,000 homes.

Announcing the decision to invest in the project previously, manufacturer Statoil said in a statement that it marked “an important step forward for offshore wind technology and potentially opens attractive new markets for renewable energy production worldwide”.

Among the markets earmarked for expansion are Europe, North America and Japan.