At almost 1.1 gigawatts, the project is one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms and set to play a significant role in support of the Scottish and wider UK’s offshore wind targets.

Inch Cape will feature 72 turbines sited in the North Sea, 15 kilometres off the Angus coast. The power it generates will be transported 85 kilometres to a new substation in East Lothian from where it will enter the national transmission system. It will be operated out of a purpose-built facility at Montrose Port.

Inch Cape will make a significant contribution towards the UK’s offshore wind ambitions and will generate enough green energy to power the equivalent of more than half the homes in Scotland.

Owners

Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm is owned by Inch Cape Offshore Limited, an equal joint venture between Edinburgh-based renewable and sustainable energy company, Red Rock Renewables and Ireland’s leading energy company, ESB.  

Project description

Inch Cape’s offshore site covers a total of 150 square kilometres, roughly the size of the island of Hoy in Orkney. It will comprise 72 wind turbine generators, each up to 274 metres tall, installed on a combination of monopile and jacket foundations in water depths ranging from 34 metres to 64 metres. The monopiles will be amongst the world’s largest with lengths of up to 105 metres, a maximum diameter of 11.5 metres and with the heaviest weighing 2700 tonnes.

A total of 150 kilometres of array cables will bring the power to a single 66 kilovolt (kV)/220kV substation on a 68 metre jacket foundation at the heart of the wind farm. Electricity from the offshore substation will be transmitted 85 kilometres via two 220kV subsea export cables to landfall in Cockenzie, East Lothian. 

The export cables will join a short section of onshore export cable which will connect into the new 220/275kV onshore substation being constructed on the brownfield site of the former Cockenzie Power Station. The substation will comprise two super grid transformers, shunt reactors, harmonic filters, static var compensators and additional electrical equipment. 

From the substation, the power will be transported around 300 metres underground to the existing Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) 275/400kV substation. From here it will enter the national transmission system on its way to providing green electricity to UK homes, businesses and industry.

The project will be operated and maintained out of a purpose-built facility at the Port of Montrose, in Angus.

Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm Timeline

• 2008: Inch Cape as a concept first came about in 2008 after the site was selected for further investigation by The Crown Estate (now managed by Crown Estate Scotland).
• 2009: An initial bidding round resulted in exclusivity rights being awarded in 2009. Following a Scottish Territorial Waters Strategic Environmental Assessment, Scottish Ministers decided to progress the Inch Cape site, along with four others. 
• 2011: An agreement for lease was awarded. The wind farm ownership, design and installed capacity has changed and evolved since that time and the project has been able to take advantage of new technologies and innovations as the wider offshore wind industry also developed.
• 2019: The project received approval for a revised wind farm design, opening the door to new turbine technology and a reduction in turbine numbers from 110 to 72. This meant the project could reduce construction time, costs and potential environmental impacts.
• 2020: Inch Cape secured approval to increase its generation capacity to one gigawatt (from 700MW) so the project could utilise the latest technology and maximise its efficiency within existing consent parameters.
• 2022: The consented project was awarded a contract for difference in the UK Government’s 2022 Allocation Round 4.
• 2023: Onshore enabling works were completed in readiness for the main civil engineering works which started in early 2024.
• 2024: Inch Cape was awarded a second contract for difference from Allocation Round 6 topping-up the 2022 award.
• 2025: Inch Cape reaches financial close and kicks off offshore construction.

KeyFacts Energy: Projects Database   l   KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Red Rock Power UK country profile   l    ESB 

If you would like to discover more about KeyFacts Energy, contact us today and we can arrange a 15-minute online meeting to review our database of over 2,600 continually updated 'country-specific' oil and gas and renewable energy profiles from a selection of 144 countries. Find out how you can instantly identify companies with operational activity in your chosen country, 'fine-tune' your news or company selection based on industry category, energy type or regional location and additionally benefit from one to one contact with us to ensure maximum online and social media exposure for your company.