Ports and Harbours
DeepWind includes many of the main infrastructure players including ports and harbours and supply chains behind them.
Ports and Harbours - Large Scale
Animated flyover video of Ardersier Port
Ardersier Energy Transition Facility
This ex-oil and gas yard lies just 12 miles along the A96 to the west of Inverness on the Cromarty Firth and about 5 miles from Inverness Airport. The photograph on the left is from when it was the McDermott platform fabrication yard in 1972 (image courtesy of Ardersier Port) and shows the layout of the site at that time. All of the buildings on the site have been cleared and there are over 450 acres of available laydown area along with up to 1,600m of quayside.
The owners of the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility, Haventus, are looking at the opportunity to utilise this brown field site for future offshore wind projects linked to the ScotWind leasing round. Due to the sheer scale of the site it could lend itself to the fabrication and assembly of the largest of the planned substructures and it is being promoted by the owners as a multi-use site.
The animated video on the left shows Haventus' future development plan for the site.
Phase 1 of this new development is already under construction and will see 659m of new quayside with a water depth of over 12m+ being delivered later in 2025. Subject to demand, Haventus have plans for a further 1,000m of quayside on this port site.
Below are links to the port and SOWPA web sites.
Energy Park Fife
The Energy Park Fife facility at Methil in Fife is owned by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Fife Council. The engineering zone offers 54 hectares of development land with heavy engineering/fabrication company Harland & Wolff (Navantia) currently occupying 20 hectares of this site.
Harland & Wollff at the Methil and Arnish sites will be working alongside Harland & Wolff Belfast and Appledore to deliver projects across multiple markets – including offshore wind. Specifically, at the Methil site there will be a focus on fabrication for renewable energy, oil and gas, and commercial markets.
The Energy Park Fife has two load-out quays:
Quay 1 = 180m
Quay 2 = 177m
The site also has covered and open assembly areas, covered fabrication areas and a covered storage area in its yard. The fabrication shops are used for preparation of steel plates, tubulars and sections, prefabrication work, sub-assembly of deck sections, PAV’s and node fabrication.
The main assembly hall contains cranes and hoists to aid in the final erection and fitting of jacket modules and integrated decks. At 48m wide x 134m long x 30m high, the main assembly hall is one of the largest such facilities in Europe.
The links below are to the Energy Park Fife section on the Invest Fife web site and on the Scottish Energy Ports web site.
Energy Park Fife - Invest Fife Scottish Energy Ports
Animation for Hunterston PARC - Peel Ports
Hunterston PARC
Port owners Peel Ports have put forward a Master Development Plan for the Hunterston Port and Resource Centre (PARC) site which will see it play a role in multiple industries which includes offshore wind and oil and gas decommissioning. The planned redevelopment will offer 700m of quayside and over 25 hectares of laydown area potentially earmarked for offshore wind from the total 100 hectare site.
Previously serving as Scotland's coal terminal for the coal fired power stations in the Central Belt it is seeking a new role in Scotland's energy landscape with the demise of all these power stations across Scotland. Offshore wind is coming to the West Coast of Scotland with the new ScotWind leasing round and Hunterston is now positioning itself for a leading role in this new opportunity in the West.
As part of this new lease of life they are working with the ORE Catapult and the University of Strathclyde to investigate the potential for floating wind substructure manufacturing in the port as well as offering marshalling services to the offshore wind sector.
The Hunterston site is also the planned home for subsea cable manufacturing company, XLCC's new £1.4bn facility for HVDC cables.
The animated video (2:20 minutes) on the left from Peel Ports shows the current planned layout of the site highlighting the projects which are already earmarked for the facility.
Please use the links below for more information on Hunterston PARC site on the Peel Ports and Scottish Energy Ports web sites.
Animated flyover video of Kishorn Port
Kishorn Port
Kishorn Port is home to one of the largest dry dock facilities in Europe. It is strategically positioned on the West Coast and, at 80m, boasts one of the deepest channels in the UK in Loch Kishorn and Loch Carron. These two elements in close proximity makes Kishorn one of the ideal sites for floating wind related activity and offers significant sheltered wet storage opportunities.
Kishorn Port is owned and operated by Ferguson Transport and Leiths, who also have a quarry on the site.
The owners have recently invested in a multi-million pound upgrade of the 160m dry dock gates, seals and pumping system and laid a new access road down onto the floor of the dry dock (shown right), along with erecting a 120 person accommodation block on site, with welfare, canteen and gym facilities.
The site also has its own quarry with 6.5m tonnes of reserves which also makes the site ideal for the manufacture of concrete substructures. The large dry dock capacity also enables the assembly and launch of such concrete substructures.
See the links below to the Kishorn Port web site and their section on the SOWPA website for a more detailed specification on the port's faculties.
Kishorn Port and Dry Dock SOWPAAnimated flyover video of Lerwick North Harbour
Lerwick Harbour
The main harbour of the Shetland Islands, Lerwick Harbour, has seen significant investment by the Port Authority in extending quayside, upgrading hardstanding areas and developing completely new area of the port such as the deep water quayside at Dales Voe. The port is home to the northern pelagic fishing vessel fleet, is a main service base for the oil and gas sector and is now involved in delivering major decommissioning projects for the same sector.
It has been identified as the top candidate for the UK's Ultra Deep Water Decommissioning facility and is awaiting the necessary contracts to trigger such a significant investment.
The potential for a major site from the ScotWind leasing round to be off the east coast of the Shetland Islands has stimulated interest in utilising Lerwick Harbour's extensive infrastructure for offshore wind and floating offshore wind in particular.
Although there is currently only one proposed site in the Shetland area there is the opportunity of further sites coming along from subsequent Scotwind leasing rounds. There are also new opportunities arising from the UKCS Energy Transition projects from the planned electrification of the oil and gas platforms in the Northern North Sea using offshore wind.
Please use the links below to the Lerwick Port Authority and SOWPA websites for some more detailed specification on the port's faculties.
Lerwick Port Authority SOWPABlue Tern turbine installation vessel at South Harbour
Port of Aberdeen
As befitting the city with the title of the Energy Capital of Europe the harbour derives over 50% of its revenue from servicing the oil and gas industry in the UKCS (UK Continental Shelf). It is one of the busiest ports in the UK, with 6,500 vessels movements per annum, and so much so that they have now expanded the port with a new south harbour development in Nigg Bay.
This new facility consists of over 1,400m of quayside, 10.5m water depth and boast 125,000m2 of laydown area. Completed in 2023 the harbour authority expects the new South Harbour to play a key role in the development of offshore wind projects on the East Coast.
The short video (25 seconds) on the right shows the arrival of Fred Olsen Windcarrier's Blue Tern offshore wind construction vessel at the South Harbour
Further information can be found using the links below:
Port of Aberdeen Scottish Offshore Wind Port AllianceAnimated flyover video of Port of Cromarty Firth
Port of Cromarty Firth
Situated in the sheltered deep waters of the Cromarty Firth, the port has been very active in offshore wind developments in Scotland for a number of years. The Port was selected as the substructure storage and load-out facility for the Beatrice offshore wind farm and has also succeeded in securing a major contract from Ocean Wind’s Moray West offshore wind farm for marshalling and load out of their XXL Monopiles.
A substantial £30m investment by PoCF has seen the port expand its operational laydown area and deep-water quayside to accommodate larger offshore wind projects. The recent confirmation of a £55m grant from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero from their FLOWMIS fund will see the port proceed with there next expansion which will add a further 11 hectares of laydown area and increase the quayside length to over 800m.
The sheltered waters of the Cromarty Firth also make it ideal for the wet storage of floating wind substructures and the port already has a long history of 'cold' and 'hot' stacking of oil and gas rigs in a similar manner.
See the links below to the Port of Cromarty Firth web site and their section on the SOWPA website for a more detailed specification on the port's facilities.
Port of Cromarty Firth Scottish Offshore Wind Port AllianceImage credit: Scottish Enterprise
Animated flyover of Port of Nigg
Port of Nigg
Situated at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth in the North of Scotland the Port of Nigg has already see extensive use as a construction port for the wind industry. The multi use energy hub is owned and operated by Global Energy Group and their port services both the offshore wind and oil and gas industries.
The picture (right) was taken during the construction phase of SSE's Seagreen wind farm and shows jackets marshalled at the site. Jackets are also being offloaded from a vessel while other are being loaded onto a transfer barge.
The port has also been successful in winning further work on the huge Moray West project which is due to start construction in 2023.
The port is also in prime position to win further work from the other projects in the offshore wind pipeline.
Find out more about the Port of Nigg section on the Scottish Energy Ports web site.
Image credit: Global Energy Group
Animated flyover video of Scapa Deep Water Quay
Scapa Deep Water Quay
The animated flyover video to the right shows the Orkney Island Council's plan for their harbour redevelopment and their ambitious £76m project to deliver a Deep Water Quay at a site in the Scapa Flow, one of the largest natural sheltered harbours in the world.
This will consist of over 600m of quayside with one 300m outer quay with 20m water depth. It will also have 12 acres of laydown area attached to the port site which could potentially be expanded further should demand be forthcoming.
The aim of the Deep Water Quay is to attract further cruise liner, oil and gas servicing and decommissioning work along with business from the offshore wind sector as the ScotWind project sites in the Orkney waters and Pentand Firth come to fruition in the next 5-10 years (see map below).
Scapa Flow also represents a significant wet storage opportunity for floating wind substructures as this type of storage will be required over the winter months with most installation work on the wind farms being scheduled for the summer period.
Details of the complete Masterplan for all Orkney Harbour's sites can be downloaded from their website.
The Scapa Quay development is being delivered by Orkney Harbours, part of Orkney Island Council, who also run other local ports sites in the island archipelago including Kirkwall Harbour, Hatston Pier, Stromness Harbour and the Lyness site.
Orkney Harbours are member of the Scottish Offshore Wind Port Alliance (SOWPA) and the links below will take you to the Orkney Future Ports and SOPWA web sites
Animated flyover video of Stornoway Port
Stornoway Port
Stornoway Harbour serves multiple maritime sectors including ferry traffic, cruise liners, cargo, fishing, aquaculture and oil and gas. It is the main gateway onto Lewis and Harris in the Western Isles. CalMac, the ferry operator, run lifeline services to the mainland from Stornoway for passengers, cars and commercial traffic and Marine Scotland's Fishery Protection vessels (blue vessel in the background of the above photo) are regular visitors.
The Port Authority now plan to expand the port with a deep water facility (shown in image above) on the opposite side of the bay to connect up to the nearby Arnish facility, run by Harland and Wolff, which is involved in heavy fabrication for the offshore wind and oil and gas markets.
The Phase 1 plan will include a new berth for cruise ships up to 330m in length, 10m water depth and a separate Ro-Ro facility for a dedicated fright ferry.
Phases 2 and 3 will see the completion of a Deep Water Port with 800m of quayside and 29 hectares of laydown area. The aim is to have Phase 2 completed in time to allow Stornoway to take part in the development of the ScotWind leasing sites off the North Coast of Lewis
Ports and harbours
Explore all ports and harbours in Scotland.