Scotland
Montrose Port on Scotland’s Angus coast has been selected by SSE as the preferred location for the operations and maintenance base for its planned 1.4GW Berwick Bank B offshore wind farm, creating 100 new full-time jobs.
The announcement was made at an event at Montrose Port today, attended by Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, who praised SSE’s continuing commitment to creating highly skilled offshore wind jobs through its Scottish renewable energy investments.
The 100 new full-time jobs will include technicians and engineers responsible for the day-to-day offshore operations of the wind farm throughout its expected operational life of more than 35 years.
The offshore wind jobs will be based at a new operational hub on Montrose Port’s South Harbour, supporting continued economic growth in Montrose and across Angus through long-term investment and skilled employment.
First Minister John Swinney said: “SSE’s selection of the Port of Montrose as its preferred location for its operations and maintenance base for Berwick Bank further strengthens Scotland’s offshore wind supply chain and will create more jobs as well as investment in skills, infrastructure and local communities.”
Located in the outer Firth of Forth, around 38km off Scotland’s east coast, Berwick Bank B forms part of SSE’s wider 4.1GW Berwick Bank Wind Farm project.
In January, SSE successfully secured a 20-year contract for 1.4GW of offshore wind generation from Berwick Bank B in Allocation Round 7 of the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which provides long-term revenue certainty for electricity generation projects.
SSE is progressing Berwick Bank B towards a Final Investment Decision (FID), expected next year.
Stuart Hood, Director of Offshore Wind Operations at SSE Renewables, said: “Scotland has built a world-class offshore wind industry, and today’s announcement shows the economic opportunities that can follow when that expertise is matched with long-term investment. Our decision to choose Montrose as the preferred operations base for Berwick Bank B and create 100 new jobs reflects the strength of the port, its people and the local supply chain. SSE has built a strong relationship with Montrose Port over many years, and this latest long-term investment will help support the port’s continued development as a leading offshore wind hub. This is clear evidence of the potential for the clean energy transition to drive skilled job creation and economic opportunity for communities up and down the country.”
