Hywind Scotland
Located 25km off Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. Spar-buoy floating foundations anchored in 95-129m water depth. Batwind battery storage system also installed.
Status
Operationallifecycle stage
Location
United KingdomNorth Sea
Technology
Capacity
30 MW ◆
Turbines
5 × 6 MW ◆
Model
Siemens Swt 6-0-154 ◆
Foundation
Floating ◆
Site & conditions
Site rights
Seabed rights held ∴
Water depth
95–120 m ◆
Distance from shore
25 km ◆
Wind speed
10.0 m/s @ 100 m ≈
Revenue & grid
Offtake
Other ◆
Grid
Secured · 2017-10 ◆
Connection
SSE Peterhead Grange substation via subsea export cable to … ◆
Schedule
FID
Nov 2015 ◆
COD
18 Oct 2017 ◆
Project timeline & ownership verified milestones on the spine · ownership from Hafrok’s transactions record
Farmdown · 2017-01
Equinor → Masdar 25%
- Stake
- 25%
- Consideration
- €62.0m
- Implied 100% value
- €246m
- Implied
- €8.21m / MW
- Announced
- 2017-01
- Closed
- 2017-Q2
- Project stage
- under construction
Statoil (now Equinor) sold 25% of Hywind Scotland Pilot Park to Masdar for GBP 52.5m. Masdar covered 25% of all previous and future project costs. Converted at GBP/EUR 1.14 (Jan 2017) = EUR ~60m, rounded to 62. World's first floating commercial wind farm; commissioned October 2017. Current ownership: Equinor 75%, Masdar 25%.
Evidence
From Hafrok’s transactions record
Dashed tick marks today (9 Sep 2026). Ownership lives in the band below: one station per recorded deal, dated at its label, in deal order rather than to calendar scale. Secondary trades appear only at the interchanges; grey lines are parties whose entry or exit Hafrok’s record does not hold.
Revenue & offtake the regime the project was built under
Offtake regime: ROC 3.5 ROCs/MWh (floating demonstrator)
A built project sells its power under the contract or support regime it was financed with; it is not expected to bid into new government offtake rounds. Where the record does not yet name that regime, the row says so rather than guessing.
Installation how the build is going · from satellite counts and Hafrok’s registers
Satellite survey
the farm as it stands, counted from satellite radar images · built before the count began, so there is no build to chart
Satellite survey
Structures standing5≈5 turbines + 0 platforms expected · every expected structure seen
Surveyed2026-09-01≈from 91 satellite passes
Built2017-07 → 2017-10-18offshore construction to start of operation, from the record
Hafrok counts the structures standing in the sea from satellite radar images (≈) and reads the count against the turbines and platforms on record. The farm was built before this count began, so the images show it complete; they cannot date its construction. Rows marked with a dot (·) come from Hafrok’s own registers.
Satellite image
Image taken2026-09-07≈Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar satellite, northbound pass
Farm covered100%≈the whole farm lies inside the image
Structures ringed5 confirmed · 0 not yet confirmed≈as counted on 2026-09-01 · the image is newer than the count, so a bright spot without a ring may be a structure not yet counted
Construction ports
PortStord ◆·assembly and tow-out · quay 800 m · crane 1050 t · draft 16 m
PortPeterhead ◆operations base
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026, processed by ESA and by Microsoft Planetary Computer.
Latest satellite radar image · 2026-09-07
a radar picture, not a photograph: the sea is dark, steel is bright · black is beyond the edge of the image
confirmed structure (5)seen recently, not yet confirmed (0)probably a substation platform (a larger structure than a turbine; the register above has the facts)farm boundary
Sources & verification
17/18 fields verified · rests on 13 sources (8 primary) · ◆ 8 documents held
◆Verified≈Modelled◇Sourced∴Inferred⌁Convention○Unverified∅No source·Derived
Numbers are stable citation ids — grouped by source class, so they are not consecutive.
Regulator4
[1]
Marine Scotland2015-10-30◆ Hywind Scotland Pilot Park - Marine Lice…
“Subject to the conditions set out in the Marine Licence (05515/15/0) the Licensing Authority grant a licence under Part 4 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and under Part 4 of the Marine and Coastal A…”
supportsConsentDistance from shoreConsent granted
[2]
Marine Scotland2015-10-30◆ Hywind Scotland Pilot Park - Marine Lice…
“The Development will involve the installation of five 6 MW wind turbine generator units [...] with a draught of no less than 70 m to no more than 85 m and a rotor diameter of 154 m. [...] The Licensee…”
supportsTurbinesUnit capacityTotal capacityFoundationStatus+4 more
[16]
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026-05-06◆ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD…
“REPD Q1 2026 quarterly extract — Ref ID 2479: Site Name "Hywind Scotland Pilot Park (Hywind 2) Demonstrator", Development Status "Operational", Installed Capacity 30 MWelec, Operator "Statoil"”
supportsRegister entry
[17]
Scottish Government Marine Directorate (MD-LOT)2026-08-23◆ Scottish MD-LOT marine projects register…
“Register row "Hywind Scotland Pilot Park" (key ml/hywind-scotland-pilot-park): Application stage "Post-consent", type "Renewables - Wind".”
supportsRegister entry
Operator4
[4]
Equinor (Statoil)2017-10-18◆ World's first floating wind farm has sta…
"Hywind Scotland, the first floating wind farm in the world, has started to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid. Today the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, officially opens the wind f…
supportsFirst powerCommercial operation
[7]
Equinor2024-10-01◆ Hywind Scotland - the world’s first floa…
“Hywind Scotland is the world's first floating offshore wind farm. [...] 30 MW. [...] Water depth 95-120 m. [...] Average wave height 1.8 m. [...] Export cable approximately 30 km.”
supportsWater depth
[8]
Equinor2022-10-18◆ Equinor marks 5 years of operations at w…
“Hywind Scotland, the world's first floating offshore wind farm [...] achieving a capacity factor of 54% over its five years of operations.”
supportsBackground
[13]
Masdar2023
“Masdar has a 25 per cent stake in the 30MW project, along with lead operator Equinor, which owns 75 per cent.”
supportsoperatorco-owner
Trade press5
[3]
offshoreWIND.biz2015-11-03◆ Statoil Sets Aside EUR 214 Million for H…
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsFinal investment decisionWater depth
[9]
offshoreWIND.biz2017-05-29
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsOffshore constructionSite rightsassembly and tow-out
[10]
Renewable Energy Foundation2021-08-01
“two floating offshore wind farms, Hywind and Kincardine, which receive 3.5 ROCs per MWh”
supportsMechanismDetail
[14]
offshoreWIND.biz2017-07-24
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsOffshore constructionSite rightsModel
[15]