Tall white towers set to change Dundee’s skyline

Towers as tall as the Statue of Liberty will become a familiar site at the Port of Dundee.

By Rob McLaren

May 26 2023, 5:55am

The parts will be joined together vertically next week. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DCT Media

Tall white towers will change Dundee’s skyline for the rest of the year as a new stage of wind farm work gets under way at the Port of Dundee.

Since March last year parts for the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind farm have been stored horizontally on the Port’s custom built wind turbine marshalling facility.

Now, with the electrical infrastructure in place and foundations laid about 10 miles from the coast of Fife, the next stage of the project can start.

The three sections of the turbine tower, each almost 30 metres long, will be erected onshore.

When put together they will stand around 90 metres tall, about the same height as the Statue of Liberty.

The work is due to begin next week.

‘Exciting stage’ for NnG

Matthias Haag, project director NnG, hailed the next stage of the project, which has been years in development.

He said: “It is a very exciting stage in a critical year for NnG.

“The key is to do as much of the work onshore as possible.

“The three parts of the turbine tower will be bolted together and stand at just under 90 metres in height.

The wind farm parts have been stored at the Port of Dundee for over a year. Image: Jake Keith/DC Thomson.

“This preassembly work will start next week and continue for the rest of the year.

“From July they will start to be transported by ship offshore. We transport four at a time vertically.

“Each tower will also have three blades and its nacelle, so it’s five lifts for each turbine.”

Port of Dundee capabilities

All 54 turbines for the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm will be assembled at Dundee.

David Webster, director of energy at Forth Ports, said: “The start of the preassembly of the wind turbines is a significant milestone.

The first turbine blades for the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind farm arriving at the Port of Dundee. Image: Forth Ports.

“The Port of Dundee offshore wind marshalling facility and our Forth Projects logistics team are demonstrating our capability to deliver renewable energy construction projects through best in class facilities with the people, equipment and skills to back this up.

“This is the culmination of over five years of planning, investment and port development.

“It is just the beginning of a new, exciting chapter, with more projects and ScotWind yet to come.”

NnG, jointly owned by EDF Renewables and ESB, has a capacity of around 450MW. It will supply enough low carbon electricity for around 375,000 homes.

The project is due to be completed and generating power in the first quarter of 2024.