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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.

Moray East

Moray East Offshore Wind Farm

Contents

Wind Project Site

Title: Moray East
Status:
Operating
Project Manager:
Diamond Green Limited, Equitix Limited, Ocean Winds
Turbine Developer:
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Foundation Manufacturer:
DEME Blue Energy (DBE), EPCI contractor
Construction Start:
Operation Start:
Info Last Updated:
Contact:
Info
(login for email address)
Website:
External Link

Details

Technology:
Fixed Offshore Wind
Project Scale:
Commercial Farm
Turbine Model:
V164-9.5 MW
Hub Height:
105 m
Rotor Diameter:
164 m
Number of Turbines:
100
Capacity per Turbine:
9.5 MW
Installed Capacity:
950 MW
Support Structure:
Jacket Foundation
Export Cables:
AC, Buried Seafloor Cables
Export Cable Voltage:
220 kV
Number of Export Cables:
3
Cable Landfall:
Horizontal Directional Drill
Physical Site:
Shallow Water (<60m), Marine
Water Depth:
37-57 m
Distance from Shore:
22 km
Country:
United Kingdom

Description

Moray East is an offshore wind farm in the Moray Firth, Scotland that is managed by Ocean Winds (40%), Diamond Green Limited (33.4%), and Equitix (26.6%). The wind farm is comprised of three offshore wind farm sites within the Moray East Site, named Telford, Stevenson, and MacColl wind farms. Together, they consist of 100 9.5MW Vestas turbines covering 295 square kilometres 22km off the coast of Aberdeenshire. Turbine hub heights reach 105 meters, and blades span 164 meters in diameter. The project uses jacket foundations installed by DEME group. The wind farm first began producing power in June of 2021 and reached full production capacity in April 2022.

Location

Moray East is located approximately 22 kilometres off Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the Moray Firth.

Project Timeline

  • April 2022: Full power output achieved
  • September 2021: Final turbine installed
  • June 2021: Wind farm began exporting power
  • July 19, 2018: Marine Licenses transferred to Moray East
  • September 2014: Marine licenses granted

Licensing Information

  • 2022: Scottish Government: Marine license variation – Construction and Operation of Offshore Transmission Infrastructure – MS-00009423  
  • 2020: Scottish Government: Marine License Variation – Modified Offshore Transmission Infrastructure – MS-00008919
  • 2019: Scottish Government: MS EPS - License to disturb marine species
  • 2014: Scottish Government: Marine licenses – Construction and operation of substation platforms, generating station, offshore transmission infrastructure, and meteorological mast
  • 2014: Scottish Government, Marine Licenses for Stevenson, MacColl, and Telford Offshore Wind Farms (numbered 04627/19/0, 04628/19/0, 04629/19/0 respectively)

Key Environmental Issues

Moray East Offshore Windfarm engaged in a Project Environmental Monitoring Programme (PEMP) to monitor environmental effects of the windfarm. The program included pre-construction and post-construction geophysical surveys and participation in the Moray Firth tracking project, which identified salmon in the various rivers connecting to the Moray Firth.

Environmental Papers and Reports

Environmental Monitoring: Moray East

ID Phase Stressor & Receptor Design and Methods Results Publications Data
2074351 Baseline Birds Boat-based 
Natural Power Consultants conducted 28 boat-based bird surveys between April 2010 and March 2012.   		Complete 
Density and population size estimates were created for six species (fulmar, gannet, kittiwake, guillemot, razorbill, and puffin). Flight directions were also recorded to indicate differences in directions across Special Protection Ara (SPA) zones.  		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2074352 Baseline Birds Aerial Surveys 
Seven aerial surveys were undertaken in 2009 and 2010. HiDef Aerial Surveying and WWT Consulting completed the surveys.  		Complete 
Density estimates were identified for the most numerous species (>10 birds/100 kms). Species included Fulmar, Gannet, Kittiwake, Gulls, and Auks.   		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012

Marine Data Exchange
2074353 Baseline Birds GPS logging 
GPS loggers were attached to fulmar, kittiwake, guillemot, and razorbill species. Loggers were deployed for periods of over 36 hours.   		Complete 
Each bird’s route foraging was plotted and binned into cells of a grid over the target area. Additional modelling was undertaken to predict foraging distributions. No Kittiwake, Guillemot, or Razorbills entered the proposed siting area, and 10% of Fulmars entered the sites.   		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2074354 Baseline Fish Smolt trap and tag
850 smolts were tagged and tracked to determine marine migration routes upstream from the Moray Firth. Smolts were tracked in each of seven rivers leading to the Firth, with reports generated for each river. 		Complete
The baseline assessment has been complete and will be used with future studies to determine the effect of the wind farms on smolt in the Moray Firth. 		Cromarty Firth Fishery Board et al. 2019, The Deveron et al. 2019, Findhorn et al. 2019, Ness District Salmon Fishery Board et al. 2019, Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries et al. 2019, Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries et al. 2019, Spey Fishery Board et al. 2019 No data publicly available.
2074355 Baseline Fish Sand eel dredging and grabbing
During night hours between the end of January and beginning of March, sand eel dredging and grabbing occurred to provide information on the distribution of sand eels in the wind farm and transmission corridor. 		Complete
Three species of sand eel were discovered: Raitt’s, Smooth, and Greater sand eel, with Raitt’s sand eel accounting for 89.8% of sand eel discovered. Overall population within the wind farm area was found to be patchy and relatively low. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2074356 Baseline Marine Mammals Tagging and telemetry
Data was collected from 37 tagged harbour seals between 1989 and 2009. A Bayesian state space model was applied to all raw data to provide position estimates. 		Complete
The entire Moray Firth is considered potential habitat. Seal presence was analysed for connection to water depth, sediment type, and distance from shore. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2074357 Baseline Marine Mammals Photo identification
The MMMP aims to conduct monitoring of harbour seals (land-based photo ID) and bottlenose dolphins (boat-based photo ID) in order to determine how populations will be affected by the two new wind farms (MORL and BOWL) in the Moray Firth. Baseline data were compiled in 2015. 		Complete
Baseline data have been compiled for harbour seal and bottlenose dolphin populations in the Moray Firth. 		Thompson 2015

University of Aberdeen. 2014
2074358 Baseline Marine Mammals Tagging and telemetry, aerial surveying
39 grey seals were tagged between 1993 and 2002 to analyse pup movement at breeding sites. Data was collected until 2009, and aerial survey data were included between 1996 and 2009. 		Complete
Spatial usage of grey seals around MORL/BOWL (Moray and Beatrice) proposed development sites was characterized. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2074359 Baseline Marine Mammals Passive acoustic monitoring
A combination of T-PODs and C-PODs was used to detect harbour porpoise and dolphin occurrences in the Moray Firth between 2009 and 2010. 		Complete
Both harbour porpoise and dolphins were detected in the Moray Firth, both within the proposed windfarm area. Harbour porpoises are expected to be present on a daily basis, while dolphin detections remained low. Importantly, no bottlenose dolphins were detected. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2074360 Baseline Physical Environment Geophysical and geotechnical surveys
Geophysical and geotechnical surveys including echo sounders, sonar, sub-bottom profilers, and magnetometers, among others, were carried out between 2014 and 2019. 		Complete
Surveying characterized various seabed features (e.g., sediment type, debris identification) and water depth in the Moray East site and OfTI Corridor. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2019 No data publicly available.
2074361 Baseline Physical Environment Seabed sampling, video surveillance, scientific trawling
In October 2010, samples were taken from 88 stations in the wind farm and transmission corridor areas. Samples included video footage and sediment, as well as 21 2m beam trawl samples to assess larger assemblages such as crab, prawns, and fish. 		Complete
Dominant seabed sediment habitat was classified as slightly gravelly sand with patches of shelly gravelly sand, sandy gravel, and gravel. Benthic communities were found to be rich and diverse, including polychaete worms, burrowing urchin, and bivalves, among others. No rare or protected species were discovered within the area. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2012 No data publicly available.
2082846 Operations Habitat Change

Fish 		Cod Spawning Survey
The Moray East Cod Spawning Survey was conducted in the vicinity of the Moray East site in March 2024, during the peak cod spawning season, to characterize spawning activity. The survey methodology, agreed with Marine Scotland Science and Marine Directorate Licensing and Operations Team, involved sampling the same eight stations during two trips. Sampling used a commercial rock-hopper otter trawl with a 120 mm mesh cod-end and a 40 mm blinder, with each trawl tow lasting 30 minutes. Cod caught were analyzed for number, CPUE, length, and maturity stage, with Stage III/IV indicating spawning. Spawning activity was assessed by comparing spawning cod CPUE to MSS guidance thresholds to categorize stations as "Not important", "May be important", or a "Spawning area". Bycatch was also recorded. 		Complete
The survey in March 2024 found low numbers of cod, with a total of 10 individuals caught across both trips. Nine of these were adults, and eight were determined to be in spawning condition (Stage III). Using MSS guidance based on spawning cod Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE), no sampled locations met the threshold for a "spawning area" (>75 spawning cod/km²). However, four stations in Trip A and one station in Trip B were classified as "may be important" to spawning cod (>15 to ≤75 spawning cod/km²), although this was often based on catching only one or two spawning individuals at those sites. Comparing these results to the 2019 pre-construction survey, both surveys found relatively low cod numbers and no identified "spawning areas". Construction activities, specifically piling, from the adjacent Moray West wind farm were ongoing during the survey and were noted as a potential influence, but the survey found no clear pattern linking piling activities to the presence or absence of cod in the results. The survey also recorded significant by-catch, with haddock being the most abundant species. 		Lord 2024 No data publicly available.
2074362 Operations Avoidance

Marine Mammals 		Passive Acoustic Monitoring
An array of echolocation click detectors (CPODs) were deployed throughout the construction phase of two wind farms, 2017-2019. 		Complete
Porpoise displacement was observed at up to 12km from pile-driving activities and 4 km from construction vessels. 		Benhemma-Le Gall et al. 2021

Benhemma-Le Gall et al. 2021
2075163 Operations Avoidance

Marine Mammals 		Acoustic Monitoring
A linear array of seven clusters of directional hydrophones was deployed within the Moray East Offshore Windfarm site between 21 August and 2 September 2019, when piling occurred using soft-start mitigation measures. 		Complete
Data indicates porpoise movements showed a directional response away from the sound source during the piling soft-start compared to baseline data, indicating success of the mitigation measure. 		Graham et al. 2023

Dryad: data and code
2074363 Operations Habitat Change

Physical Environment 		Varying bathymetry and geological surveys
Surveys were carried out with autonomous vessels and echobeam sounders to determine the effect of pile driving vessels on the sea floor post-construction. 		Complete
In several locations cavity depths were found to be close enough to cable routs remedial works were required. Some backfilling was performed to fill cavities. 		Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited 2020 No data publicly available.