Floating wind farm in North Sea ‘to create 1,000 jobs’

A planned floating wind farm in the North Sea will create more than 1,000 jobs, the company behind it says.

Cerulean Winds said the Aspen project would attract a total investment of £10.9bn across 50 years.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks will visit Ardersier port in the Scottish Highlands on Monday to meet Cerulean Winds staff.

Aspen would form one of three connected wind farms planned for the central North Sea, which together would have 300 turbines generating up to three Gigawatts of electricity.

Ardersier will be the hub for the assembly and delivery of the floating wind farm.

About 62 miles from the shore, Aspen would connect to the UK’s onshore grid via Aberdeenshire by 2028 at the earliest.

The Energy Minister said: “The clean energy transition is well under way in Scotland, thanks to state-of-the-art offshore wind projects like this one at the port of Ardersier, that will help us deliver on our plan for change and clean power by 2030 mission.

“Today’s commitment from Cerulean Wind and its partners shows exactly how this transition will bring good jobs and growth to Scotland, as Britain’s fast-expanding renewable energy powerhouse.”

Cerulean Winds and other companies involved in the Aspen project say it will directly create more than 1,000 jobs.

Dan Jackson, director of Cerulean Winds, said: “This project has the potential to support thousands of skilled jobs and billions in investment to the UK.

“From a base in Scotland, Cerulean Winds and our delivery partners want to grasp the opportunity of creating a floating offshore wind supply chain industrial base in the UK.”