Scottish town readies for energy transition, recycling rigs into wind turbines

Across Scotland, sizeable offshore decommissioning facilities are being developed as well as offshore wind turbine development sites as the nation’s shoreline moves from its oil and gas past to renewables.

An oil rig decommissioning yard, a green steel fabrication plant and a hub for building offshore wind turbine bases are part of plans to create the UK’s first fully circular energy transition facility in the northeast of Scotland at a port town formerly a giant in the oil and gas fabrication business 50 years ago.

The port at Ardersier, on the Moray Firth coast near Inverness, shut down 20 years ago, but has now been bought by new company, Ardersier Port, which has laid out plans to transform the site, recycling defunct oil and gas rigs to make foundations for future fleets of floating offshore wind farms.

Ardersier Port owner Steve Regan said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a world-leading industrial and offshore wind manufacturing facility here in the UK. It is a simple plan where each element makes commercial sense as a stand-alone project, but when combined the benefits to the economy and the environment are multiplied.”