Seagreen delivers green jobs boost to Port of Nigg

The contract will support 141 jobs at Port of Nigg during peak construction, including work for 93 permanent roles already on site as well as the creation of an additional 48 new roles at the port, delivering a green jobs boost to the Scottish Highlands. Recruitment for the new roles at Port of Nigg will begin in the coming months.

The Seagreen windfarm is 27 km off the coast of Angus in the North Sea firth. A £3.0Bn (US$4.2Bn) joint venture between Total and SSE Renewables, Seagreen will be Scotland’s largest and deepest offshore windfarm when complete.

Seagreen’s foundation and inter-array cable engineering, procurement, construction and installation contractor, Seaway 7, appointed GEG to run marshalling and logistics out of Port of Nigg on behalf of the development partners.

Foundation installation at Seagreen is expected to commence in H2 2021 and last for 12 months. Marshalling and logistics activity will see the delivery of Seagreen’s 114 foundation structures to the Highlands port via heavy transport vessels prior to shipping out to the North Sea for installation. After jacket foundations are installed, Vestas V164-10 MW turbines will be installed.

GEG chief executive Tim Cornelius said, “The heavy load bearing capacity and deepwater quayside, together with the facility’s strategic location and onsite, experienced, support services make the Port of Nigg the ideal choice for the execution of projects of this scale.”

Scotland’s Energy Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, welcomed the contract as a further boost to Scottish offshore renewables and the country’s green recovery. He said, “I warmly welcome this announcement. The contract provides a further boost to Scotland’s growing offshore renewables industry, sustaining existing jobs and delivering new, skilled jobs to the area and supporting Scotland’s green recovery from Covid-19.

SSE Renewables, which owns 49% of Seagreen, is leading on the development and construction of the joint venture project, supported by Total which owns 51%. SSE Renewables will operate Seagreen on completion. First power is expected by the end of 2021 with the offshore windfarm expected to enter commercial operation in 2022/23.