The UK is set to construct Nigg Offshore Wind, an offshore wind towers facility at Port of Nigg in the Scottish Highlands. An energy services company based in Scotland, Global Energy Group (GEG) has made an agreement with offshore wind tower manufacturing company, Haizea Wind Group, to develop a over £110m worth tubular rolling facility. Nigg Offshore Wind (Now) factory will occupy an area of 450m on length, 38,000m2. The facility will be able to roll steel plate to supply towers weighing each in excess of 1,000 tonnes to the offshore fixed and floating wind industry in the UK and worldwide.
The UK government has devoted to 40GW of installed offshore power by 2030, bringing total UK wind capacity to above 50GW. The Port of Nigg rolling factory will be able to produce up to 135 towers annually as well as other structures for the offshore wind industry like suction buckets, transition pieces and custom tailored tubular structures for all floating offshore wind market. The gross cost, inclusive of a new blast and paint shop and rolling machinery robotics for the new factory is between £110m and £120m.
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Port of Nigg to be a strategic hub for offshore wind
The new facility is meant to be an enabler to set up Port of Nigg as a strategic hub for the offshore wind, with consolidating the Port’s existing marshalling and staging work for turbine foundations and components. Nigg Offshore Wind facility is designed to supply towers and the other large tubular elements suitable for the both fixed and floating offshore wind markets. With the initial contracts for tower supply set to focus on UK domestic supply, it is expected that the facility will be in much demand for export of towers and more products as well, due to the high rate of planned offshore wind deployment in the continent up until 2050.
The project’s design will combine robotics and welding inspection technology initially developed for gas industry and offshore oil. GEG revealed that regional staff historically working in the oil and gas industry will have a chance to be retrained at the Nigg Skills Academy for them to operate the machinery needed to roll the new structures.
