Energy firm Vattenfall has officially launched the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWC) in Aberdeen Bay.

The EOWDC boasts the world’s largest turbine capacity and is expected to produce enough electricity to meet the power demand of approximately 80,000 British households (312 GWh) every year.

Vattenhall CEO Magnus Hall, who inaugurated the EOWC in the presence of First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Surgeon, said: “Vattenfall is in Britain to grow. The success of our wind power investments over the past decade, and the ambition of Scottish and UK governments to transform the energy and transport sectors, give us confidence in our UK future.

“As we forge new partnerships in heat, e-mobility, retail, power distribution and wind over the next ten years we will be at the forefront of the UK’s decarbonisation of energy.”

Pioneering project

Gunnar Groebler, senior VP and Head of Business Area Wind at Vattenfall, said: “We have built this pioneering project in partnership and we especially appreciate the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG), the Scottish Government and Crown Estate Scotland, for their commitment to deploying what is arguably the world’s most innovative wind farm. The sheer power and majesty on display at the EOWDC is thanks to the skill, expertise, experience and commitment to safety of Vattenfall’s engineers, specialists and suppliers.

Future wind power technology will be tested at the EOWDC in Aberdeen Bay, which is one of the first testing facilities of its kind. The aim is to accelerate the wind power industry’s drive for competitive renewable electricity generation. The eleven wind turbines, two 8.8 MW and nine 8.4 MW, have the largest turbine capacity in commercial operation in the world. One single rotor lap from the record 8.8 MW turbine provides a British household with electricity for a full day.

At EOWDC, essentially two areas will be studied:

* New wind power technology
The technology for building the foundations of the turbine towers is new. Instead of using traditional monopiles (hollow steel tubes), a new technique has been used at Aberdeen Bay; so-called suction buckets. The method is suitable for seabed with shallow rock strata, is virtually silent which minimizes the disturbance of wildlife at sea.

* How the marine life is affected by wind farms
For studies of marine wildlife around wind farms, Vattenfalll and the EU have invested EUR 3 million to study the effect of offshore wind farms on dolphins, salmon, sea trout and sea birds.