Italian engineering firm Saipem has been awarded two contracts worth €750m to help build two windfarms off the coasts of Scotland and Taiwan.

The company will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of steel foundation jackets for the 54 8MW wind turbines at the Neart na Gaoithe offshore windfarm, a £1.4bn project set to be constructed near the Firth of Forth on the east coast of Scotland.

Neart na Gaoithe has a capacity of 450MW and is being developed by EDF Renewables, who reached the financial close on the project on the 28 November.

Saipem will build the same foundation jackets for the offshore electrical substation and will use its Saipem 7000 crane to conduct the installations. It will also construct the same steel foundation jackets for the 32 wind turbines of the Formosa 2 offshore windfarm in Taiwan.

Formosa 2 will have a capacity of 376MW when it is completed, and is owned by Macquarie Capital and Swancor Renewable Energy. Macquarie reached the financial close on the $2.05bn project on 30 October 2019.

Saipem is optimistic that the projects will aid both countries in reaching ambitious offshore wind power targets. Scotland currently produces 915MW of power through its offshore wind farms, and plans to increase this figure by 4.1GW; similarly, Taiwan aims to move from its first offshore installation, completed in 2016, to 5.7GW of production by 2025.

Source: power-technology.com