Slimmed down Pentland floating wind farm moves forward after Scottish scrutiny

Scottish authorities have approved a "refined" consenting proposal which means that the Pentland offshore wind farm will have six floating wind turbines, rather than the proposed seven but will retain its nameplate capacity of 100MW.

Pentland floating offshore wind farm is being developed by Highland Wind Limited, a joint venture company majority-owned by a fund managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Project development activities are being led by CIP’s development partner, Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP).

Pentland said the amended application was submitted after additional survey work and advancements in turbine technology and design refinements led the project to a point where the same capacity can be achieved with fewer turbines than initially planned.

The project will not change the maximum tip height of the turbines, which remains at 300 metres.

“The Pentland project will pioneer a number of innovative technologies enabling the industrialisation of floating offshore wind along with delivering significant benefits to the local economy. We now have all key development requirements in place and are ready to move forward,” said Pentland's project director Richard Copeland.

“Throughout the consent process we have prioritised sustainability, with the goal of minimising any negative environmental impacts of the project. We are confident this refined design is future proof and ensures we can deliver the same benefit to the local community, and Scotland’s energy sector, while further reducing the project’s environmental impacts.”

The Pentland will farm will be located 7.5 kilometres off the coast of Dounreay, Caithness, and will feature Stiesdal Offshore’s TetraSub floating foundation technology.

The first version of the wind farm plan outlined plans for 10 TetraSub turbines. In July 2022, the partners decided to reduce the number to seven and reduced the area of the floating wind farm site by half.