Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm has finished the monopile foundation phase.

The 1.1GW Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, located in the North Sea off Scotland and a partnership between ESB and Red Rock Renewables, has finished installing all 54 of its monopile foundations.

Installation work commenced in December 2025, executed by Jan De Nul's heavy lift vessel, the Les Alizés.

This vessel, equipped with a 5,000t crane capable of reaching 160m at full height, transported and installed five monopiles per trip from the Port of Leith in Edinburgh.

The installation utilized an IQIP pile lifting tool and an IQIP hydraulic impact hammer to secure the foundations into the seabed.

The next stage of construction at Inch Cape will include installing transition pieces and 18 jacket foundations with 54 pin piles, along with additional cable and turbine installations.

Approximately 100 personnel are stationed at the Port of Leith, where remaining components are prepared for ongoing offshore operations, supported by Global Energy Solutions.

Les Alizés was on a long-term charter to RWE, which rented the vessel to the Inch Cape project during a lull in its own schedule.

Upcoming offshore tasks for the rest of the year involve the installation of transition pieces, jacket foundations, the remaining segments of the second export cable, initial array cables, and the first turbines.

The project is set to start generating electricity by late 2026, aiming for full commercial operation in 2027.

The completed wind farm will feature 72 Vestas 15MW turbines.

Inch Cape project director John Hill remarked, “The completion of our monopile installations marks a significant achievement for the Inch Cape team and reflects the project's ongoing momentum in this busy period of offshore construction.”

“The size of Inch Cape’s monopiles is state-of-the-art for the industry, and reaching this milestone involved overcoming notable challenges. These monopiles are among the largest ever installed for an offshore wind farm, with diameters of 11.5m, lengths of up to 102m, and weights around 2,300t.”

“This achievement is the result of exceptional efforts by various contractors, including SLPE for engineering design, monopile suppliers CWHI and Dajin for fabrication and delivery, and Forth Projects for its offloading and marshalling tasks.”

The engineering for installing these large monopiles required thorough analysis to address complicated ground conditions.

The project benefited from the assistance of Cathie’s geotechnical team to help manage related risks.

To safeguard marine mammals during construction, measures such as acoustic deterrent devices and a gradual increase in piling activities were implemented.