Partnering with WREN, questionnaires are sent to offshore wind energy developers around the world who are involved in environmental monitoring. This page provides contextual project information and highlights environmental monitoring, providing links to available data and reports. Content is updated annually.

Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm

Description

Kincardine is the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. It consists of five 9.5 MW turbines and a single 2 MW turbine which floats on a triangular-shaped semi-submersible WindFloatTM foundation produced by Principle Power. The 9.5 MW turbines, the highest capacity wind turbines ever installed on floating platform, float on foundations produced by a Navantia-Windar joint venture. The foundations are each moored via four mooring lines, and inter-array cables installed between turbines consist of buoyancy modules generating a “lazy wave” profile. The wind farm became fully operational in 2021. Kincardine will generate over 200 GWh of green electricity a year, enough renewable electricity to power more than 50,000 Scottish households. Cobra Wind, a subsidiary of Cobra Group, has been responsible for the delivery of the project, including engineering, construction, installation, and commissioning.

Location

Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm is located 15 km off the southeast coast of Kincardineshire (Scotland), in the Aberdeen Bay. The project covers 110 square km in water depths ranging between 60 and 80 m.

Project Timeline

  • 2024: ‘World-first’ major component in-situ exchange completed on the floating wind turbine
  • 2021: Fully commissioned and operational
  • 2018: First turbine installation. First power connected to grid in October.
  • 2019: Fabrication of the five WindFloat® units started
  • 2017: Scottish government gives final approval to construct and operate Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm
  • 2016: Environmental Statement produced
  • 2016: Cobra Group becomes main investor in Kincardine Offshore Wind
  • 2014: Kincardine Offshore Ltd. Is established by Cobra Group

Licensing Information

  • 2021: Scottish Government, European Protected Species (EPS) License application
  • 2020: Scottish Government, Marine Licence – Removal of dropped anchor weight
  • 2017: Scottish Government, Section 36 (Environmental Impact Assessment) Consent Decision Approved
  • 2017: Scottish Government, Marine Licence – Construction and operation of generating station

Key Environmental Issues

The Kincardine Environmental Management Plan (EMP) outlines environmental monitoring and mitigation strategies that were undertaken during the construction and operation of Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm. Noise levels were monitored during the initial year of operation in varying sea-states and operational conditions to identify the impact of the floating offshore wind turbine generators. Sensitive fish, shellfish, and spawning seasons were avoided as possible during construction, and trained marine mammal observers were present on vessels to advise on environmental best practices and search for marine mammals prior to activities commencing. Cable installation was also split between two years to minimize impact to breeding birds near the cliff face 100m away.

Additionally, all Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm Ltd. (KOWL) and subcontracted staff received environmental awareness training including waste management and spill response. Procedures were put in place requiring staff to respond immediately to any environmental or pollution incidents and notify KOWL within 30 minutes.

Environmental Papers and Reports

For additional documentation and information visit National Records of Scotland and the information portal for Marine Scotland.

Environmental Monitoring: Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm

Searches description, design and methods, and results.
Phase Stressor & Receptor Design and Methods Results Publications Data
Baseline Birds Collision Risk Modeling
UK seabird and non-seabird species populations potentially at risk from collision with turbines at Scottish offshore wind farm sites were shortlisted, proportions of the populations likely to pass the wind farm sites estimated, and collision risk modeling performed. 		Complete
Great black-backed gull and herring gull had mortality rates over 1% of their respective migrant populations. However, overall bird migration through Scottish waters was not found to be at risk of significant levels of additional mortality due to collisions with Scottish offshore wind farms. 		Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) 2014

No data publicly available.
Baseline Birds, Marine Mammals Aerial surveys
From May 2013 to September 2014, strip transects were flown across the survey area once each month. Surveys used HiDef Gen II cameras. 		Complete
32,960 birds of 20 species were recorded, and an additional 138 non-avian animals of seven species were recorded. 		HiDef Aerial Surveying Ltd 2016

Contact HiDef for data. 
Baseline Ecosystem Processes Fisheries baseline assessment
Fisheries statistics for the lease area are compiled from data provided by the Scottish Marine Management Organization (MMO) and Marine Scotland. 		Complete
Values of fish landings are provided for all waters around Scotland. The majority of local landings are lobster and edible crab, and scallops. Squid are also recorded.

UK fisheries data
Baseline Physical Environment Grab samples
Grab sampling was undertaken for the purpose of particle size analysis. Ten samples were collected, eight of which were along the cable corridor and two of which were inside of the proposed wind farm area. 		Complete
Sediment was characterized as very fine, fine, or medium-grained sand. 		Donald 2016

No data publicly available.
Construction Noise

Marine Mammals 		Passive Acoustic Monitoring
Hydrophones and echolocation click detectors were deployed at both Kincardine and Hywind floating offshore wind farms. Deployments lasted approximately one month. 		Complete
Noise was concentrated at a frequency of less than 200 Hz, and it was mostly due to impacts from mooring lines during higher wind speed events. Sources for turbine operational noise also increased during higher wind speeds. Reduced porpoise noises were recorded near to the wind farms as opposed to further away. 		Risch et al. 2023

No data publicly available.
Operations Avoidance, Collision, Displacement

Birds, Seabirds 		Aerial Surveys
A series of monthly aerial surveys were undertaken post installation of the 9.5MW turbines, incorporating the same flight paths from pre-construction survey detailed in the Environmental Statement, in addition to extra transects extended towards Fowlsheugh, Scotland during the breeding season. The aerial surveys began in April 2021 and continued until the final survey in September 2022, covering the 2021 and 2022 breeding season as well as the intervening non-breeding season. 		Complete
The data from the post-construction surveys has been compared to the pre-construction surveys to estimate displacement of key species, including Black-legged Kittiwake and Atlantic Puffin. Analysis of the survey data also examines displacement of these key species during the non-breeding season. 		Kincardine Offshore Wind Ltd and Broad Horizons Consulting 2025 No data publicly available.
Operations Habitat Change

Physical Environment 		Bathymetry surveying
Surveys of the cable route using ROV or vessel-mounted sensors such as sonar will occur twice annually during the wind farm’s operational phase, potentially decreasing in frequency toward the end of the wind farm’s lifespan. 		Planned
Results Pending 		Kincardine Offshore Wind Ltd 2018 No data publicly available.
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