‘A bright spot’ Power goes on at North Sea windfarm

Steve Wilson is a little wind-swept after stepping off a rock-ing boat in choppy North Sea waters. Wilson is programme director of Seagreen, Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, which last week began producing power.

- Alex Lawson

Wilson has just sailed an hour out to sea from Montrose, on the east coast of Scotland, with other local, interested parties. There, they witnessed a technician hop aboard one of the first turbines to feed power back to the mainland.

The £3bn ($3.5bn) Seagreen project, a joint venture between SSE Renewables and France’s TotalEnergies, is located 27km off Angus coast. It promises to generate 1.1 gigawatts of electricity – enough to power about 1m homes – in its first phase. That’s equivalent to about 60% of Scotland’s current offshore wind output.

Its debut provides a rare bright spot for Britain’s energy supply as gas shortages in Europe have threatened to spill over into blackouts in the UK and even higher bills for consumers . However, the wind farm will not be fully operational until the first half of next year.