Pentland floating wind project gets nod for onshore infrastructure

January 26 (Renewables Now) - The Highland Council has granted planning permission in principle for the onshore infrastructure of the 100-MW Pentland floating wind project off the Scottish coast.

The permission opens the way for the development of the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm's (PFOWF) export cables and the associated onshore substation near HMS Vulcan and Dounreay.

Located off the coast of Dounreay in Caithness, the project is aiming to start construction at the end of 2023 and could be fully operational by 2026. It will use Stiesdal Offshore’s TetraSub floating structure technology. The wind farm is being developed by Highland Wind Ltd which is owned by a Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) fund and Hexicon A/B.

The permission announced today comes after the Highland Council’s North Planning committee in December decided to raise no objection to the project’s offshore application as part of Marine Scotland’s consultation process.

“The project will be the blueprint to advance the deployment of large-scale floating offshore wind in the UK and globally, so this a significant milestone for us as a project and for the industry generally,” commented project director Richard Copeland.