Caledonia Offshore Windfarm has reached another milestone after awarding a contract for the project’s most significant design and engineering scope to date. 

Caledonia – a 2GW project being developed in the Moray Firth by Ocean Winds and one of the few ScotWind projects scheduled to be operational by 2030 – has selected offshore wind engineering consultancy Wood Thilsted to develop the structural concept design for the project’s turbine foundations.

Wood Thilsted will use the extensive ground and metocean data that has been gathered across the 429km² Caledonia site over the past two years to produce modelling for the preferred concept for the foundation designs.

The engineering team will also benefit from the experience of Ocean Winds’ two other neighbouring projects – the operational Moray East and under construction Moray West, which is nearing completion having recently achieved first power.

Caledonia Project Director Mark Baxter said: 
“Caledonia is uniquely positioned to benefit from knowledge and understanding accumulated over the two decades that Ocean Winds has been investing in the Moray Firth. The excellent work from our previous projects ensures we have exceptional insights to optimise and de-risk the design from an early stage, supporting our delivery of this important ScotWind project and the UK’s 2030 offshore wind ambition.

“Although we are in deeper waters, some of the soil conditions at Caledonia are very similar to Moray East, where we have used an optimised jacket design. Moray West is constructed with extra-large monopiles – which push the global industry limit on size – providing cost and efficiency benefits in fabrication. 

“We have in-depth experience of design, marshalling and installation of both jackets and monopiles in the Moray Firth: the modelling during this phase will enable us to examine various solutions and determine the best design option for the site and the environmental conditions.”

The design work, which is due to be completed by the end of the year, will also support Caledonia’s initial engagement with the supply chain on foundation fabrication and installation. Onshore and offshore consents for the project are due to be submitted in the autumn.

Simon Beckett, Wood Thilsted’s Edinburgh-based Project Owner, said: 
"We are really pleased to be able to support Ocean Winds for this ambitious project. We are delighted to work with the Caledonia team to help them optimise their foundations with our cutting-edge design approaches and the rigorous assessment of the site conditions being led by our local team in Edinburgh."

Ocean Winds has worked with Wood Thilsted on projects in Poland and the United States.

Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm 

The 2GW Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm is planned to nearly double the Moray Firth’s ability to supply Scotland with local low-cost, low-carbon electricity.

Ocean Winds’ heritage extends back to the start of Scotland’s first commercial scale offshore wind project in the Moray Firth in 2010, the Moray East development. 

Moray East is nearby to Caledonia and the project led the world in offshore wind cost reduction. It is now supplying enough electricity to meet the needs of almost one million homes. Construction of Ocean Winds’ neighbouring Moray West development is about to begin.

Key Facts

2GW capacity
Learnings from Ocean Winds’ legacy in the area will enable the 2GW Caledonia site to produce large-scale green power quickly and cost-effectively.

Powering 2 million homes
It is expected that Caledonia will be capable of meeting the average electricity needs of around 2 million homes.

429km² ScotWind site
Ocean Winds won rights to develop the 429km² site in 2022 as one of 17 new offshore wind farm areas awarded during the ScotWind leasing process.

40km from the coastline
The site is close enough to shore to allow for AC transmission technology, reducing costs further.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Wood Thilsted