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.

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 web site. 

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.

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.

Image credit: Scottish Enterprise