A milestone has been reached on the £2.6 billion Beatrice Offshore Windfarm project in the Outer Moray Firth.

The first of 86 jacket substructures on the scheme have been installed and the first installation phase is due for completion over the coming months. Activity will continue until December 2017 and resume in May 2018 depending on the weather.

Steve Wilson, BOWL's project manager, said "Seeing the first jacket arrive from the fabricators in Newcastle and being installed offshore is yet another testament to the hard work and determination of everyone involved in the BOWL project.

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"As well as being large complex structures, these jackets will be the deepest water fixed foundations of any offshore wind farm and it has taken significant time and resource to get them ready for installation in the Moray Firth, so it's a great achievement to have the first one in place."

A total of 84 jackets will support the Beatrice wind turbines, the first of which is due to be installed in summer 2018. The remaining two jackets will each support a Siemens Offshore Transformer Module.

Overall, the site will be of providing enough electricity to power up to 450,000 homes once operational by the end of 2019.

(LM)