Inch Cape Offshore has named Montrose Port as the future operations and maintenance base for its offshore wind farms.
The planned array will see up to 72 turbines located 15km off the Angus coast.
The wind farm, owned by Red Rock Power and ESB, should create an initial £5.2m investment and more than 50 long-term skilled jobs during its lifetime.
The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm has applied to the UK Government for a long-term energy contract in its latest Contracts for Difference allocation round, with results expected this summer.
If successful, this will trigger an 18-month, multi-million investment programme in the Angus port.
Initial work on the infrastructure upgrade will begin in 2023, with the construction of offices and a warehouse at the port’s South Quay.
A dedicated pontoon for crew transfer vessels travelling to and from the Inch Cape site will be constructed, along with the installation of dockside cranes and a communications mast, with the latest technologies in vessel fuelling being considered as an additional investment.
Works are expected to be complete and the base operational by early 2025 to coincide with the commissioning of the first turbines at the offshore wind farm.
Once operational, the Montrose base will support up to 56 direct, full-time equivalent, long-term jobs, including turbine technicians, asset managers and office staff.
Adam Ezzamel, project director of the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, said: “This new infrastructure will make Montrose Port a key element in the Inch Cape offshore wind farm, which will become one of Scotland’s largest single sources of renewable power, operational for at least 30 years.
“We plan to utilise the very latest technology to reduce carbon emissions from vessels to operational base designs, operating and maintaining some of the biggest wind turbines in the world deployed in water depths of up to 57 metres.”
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
