Masdar participates in the world's first floating offshore wind farm

Masdar, the renewable energy company from Abu Dhabi, has acquired a stake in Hywind Scotland, the pilot project for a 30 MW floating offshore wind farm in the North Sea. This was announced at an official ceremony during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017.

Masdar is Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, which promotes the development, marketing and use of clean energy technologies and solutions. The company serves as a link between today's fossil fuel economy and the energy industry of the future.

Masdar will cover 25% of the current and future costs for the offshore wind farm, as announced jointly with Statoil. Hywind Scotland is the world's first floating offshore wind farm, the idea is to demonstrate and test low-cost and low-risk solutions for future commercial floating wind parks.

“Having met with representatives of Masdar at the ADIPEC conference late last year, I am greatly encouraged by this substantial international investment in Hywind Scotland and look forward to the further development of this world-leading 30 MW project, which will be situated 15 miles from Scotland’s North East coast,” said Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Fair Work, Scottish Parliament.

Located off the coast of Peterhead in Abderdeenshire, five floating 6MW wind turbines will be anchored on the seabed for the project. The park covers an area of about four square kilometers, the average wind speed in this area of the North Sea being about 10 meters per second. The construction of the monopiles will take place this summer at Stord in Norway, before the elements are transported to Scotland.

“Masdar is excited to join the team developing the world’s first floating wind farm, and to build on our partnership with Statoil,” said Chief Executive Officer at Masdar, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.

“Hywind Scotland represents the next stage in the evolution of the offshore wind industry, combining the project management experience and technical expertise of one of the world’s largest offshore energy players – and our own capabilities in renewable energy development acquired over the last decade in the UK and international markets,” Al Ramahi added. “We see tremendous potential in the commercial application of floating offshore wind technologies.”

Hywind Scotland is already the second offshore project in which Masdar and Statoil work together. The first partnership was concluded for the Dudgeon wind farm, a 402 MW project, which is set to go into operation in the second half of 2017.