Scotland is officially home to the world's first floating wind farm.
Nicola Sturgeon formally opened the £210 million project, located off the coast of Peterhead, on 18 October. Standing at around 600ft and weighing 11,500 tonnes, the wind farm will be able to generate enough electricity to power 20,000 homes.
The project, known as Hywind, has been in development for more than 15 years, and is installed in water depths of up to 129m using mooring lines attached to the seabed. Normally, wind farms positioned in the seabed are generally at depths of around 50m. Norwegian firm Statoil, who developed the project, believe floating turbines have the potential to work in depths of up to 800m.
The development was not without protests however. The RSPB Scotland opposed the project, stating the technology is a positive for energy however the impact on birds could be exceptionally high. They also believe too many offshore turbines in the area have already been approved.
Nicola Sturgeon praised the wind farm, commenting: "This pilot project underlines the potential of Scotland's huge offshore wind resource and positions Scotland as the forefront of the global race to develop the next generation of offshore wind technologies.
"In addition to the green benefits of renewable energy, it also has a very significant contribution to make to our economy."
