Giant Angus wind farm to give half its electricity to SSE following deal

Energy giant SSE will take 50% of the electricity generated by a massive windfarm being built 10-miles off the Angus coast.

Inch Cape will sit 72 turbines in the North Sea and have a capacity of 1080 megawatt (MW) — enough to power more than 1.1 million homes.

The £3 billion development was recently named in the UK Government’s Contract for Difference programme.

And now SSE has signed a 15-year-deal to secure half of the power generated to supply their customers.

Inch Cape to power SSE for 15 years

Electricity is expected to be produced by Inch Cape in 2027, which will flow from the giant turbines to a sub-station in East Lothian.

As well as providing power for the region, the development will create hundreds of jobs, including at Montrose Port.

Montrose will house the operations and maintenance base for Inch Cape, while the Port of Dundee will be used to assemble the gigantic wind turbines.

The turbines are being constructed at a yard in north-east England.

A spokesperson for Inch Cape Offshore Ltd said: “Inch Cape Offshore Limited has signed a long-term route-to-market power purchase agreement (PPA) with SSE Energy Markets.

“Experienced market participant SSE Energy Markets will offtake 50 percent of the wind farm’s electricity output and associated environmental benefits for a period of at least 15 years.

“This agreement provides Inch Cape with a reliable route to market for its clean electricity from early generation. Full commercial operation is expected in 2027.

“The wind farm will comprise 72 turbines sited in the North Sea off the Angus coast with a total installed capacity of 1080 megawatt (MW).

“The project is fully backed by UK government contracts for difference (CfD) and was one of the winning projects in the most recent allocation round.”

Inch Cape wins big with CfD

SSE Energy Markets is the commercial energy market subsidiary of SSE plc, trading commodities for SSE’s asset portfolios in wholesale energy markets.

And the north-east of Scotland was a big winner from the government’s latest allocation for Contracts for Difference.

Inch Cape A and B were named, as was Moray West, Cloiche and Chleansaid and Green Volt – Europe’s first commercial-scale floating wind farm.

Work on the operations base at Montrose Port is due to start in 2025, with local firm Pert Bruce in line to complete the work.

Work pre-assembling the turbine blades and towers will come to the Port of Dundee next year, bringing at least 50 jobs to the site.