Montrose Port chosen for planned £5.2m offshore wind farm project

Montrose Port has been selected as the operations and maintenance base for a planned £5.2m offshore wind farm project.

Inch Cape Offshore Ltd said the development will feature up to 72 turbines located about 15km off the Angus coast.

The wind farm, owned by Red Rock Power and ESB, is expected to create more than 50 long-term skilled jobs.

The project is subject to the granting of a long-term energy contract by the UK Government.

Inch Cape has applied for the contract via the latest Contracts for Difference allocation round, with the result expected in the summer.

If successful, initial work will begin next year, with the base operational by early 2025.

The infrastructure upgrade will include the construction of a pontoon for crew transfer vessels, dockside cranes, a communications mast, offices and a warehouse.

Montrose Port: Nikki Keddie, Pete Stuart, Mairi Gougeon, Adam Ezzamel and Tom Hutchison. Email

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “This award highlights the direct long-term economic benefits which are flowing into local communities across Scotland as a result of our fast-growing offshore wind industry.

“The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, which will provide sustainable career-long jobs for people in Angus, is a great example of this.

“Montrose Port has long played an important role in supporting Scotland’s offshore energy sector and the investment announced by Inch Cape will help it become a major facility supporting our just transition towards a net-zero economy.”

Project director Adam Ezzamel said the wind farm would become “one of Scotland’s largest single sources of renewable power, operational for at least 30 years”.

He added: “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.

“The UK is already a world leader in offshore wind and this project would increase this lead – delivering long-term skilled jobs and enough electricity to power more than a million homes.”