Montrose Port chosen for planned £5.2m offshore wind farm project

The wind farm project will be subject to the granting of a long-term energy contract

Montrose Port has been chosen as the operations and maintenance base for a planned £5.2m offshore wind farm project.

Inch Cape Offshore Ltd said the project would see 72 turbines located about 15km (9.3miles) off the Angus coast.

The wind farm, owned by Red Rock Power and ESB, hopes to create more than 50 long-term skilled jobs.

The project is subject to the granting of a long-term energy contract by the UK government.

Inch Cape has applied for the contract in the latest "Contracts for Difference" allocation round, with the result expected in the summer.

• Target of 100% electricity from renewables missed

• Renewables met 97% of electricity demand in 2020

• Scots plans to hit net-zero emissions set out

If it is successful, initial work will begin next year, with the base operational by early 2025.

The work will include the construction of a pontoon for crew transfer vessels, dockside cranes, a warehouse and offices.

'Economic benefits'

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: "This award highlights the direct long-term economic benefits which are flowing into local communities across Scotland as a result of our fast-growing offshore wind industry.

"The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, which will provide sustainable career-long jobs for people in Angus, is a great example of this."

Project director Adam Ezzamel said the wind farm would become "one of Scotland's single sources of renewable power, operational for at least 30 years."

He said: "We plan to utilise the very latest technology to reduce carbon emissions from vessels to operational base designs, operating and maintaining some of the biggest wind turbines in the world deployed in water depths of up to 57 metres."