Dajin Heavy Industry has won a contract to supply XXL monopile foundations for a wind farm off the coast of Scotland.

The 860-megawatt Moray West project is being principally developed by Ocean Winds, a 50-50 joint venture between EDP Renewables ( EDPR ) and Engie. A small minority stake is held by UAB Ignitis Renewables.

The wind farm is located in Moray Firth, around 22 kilometres from the coastline.

Dajin chairman Jin Xin says the Moray West deal marks a key milestone for the company, which aims to become the largest foundation fabricator for worldwide projects.

The monopiles will weigh about 2,000 tonnes with a diameter of 10 metres. The steel cutting for the first monopile has already started, according to Dajin.

Siemens Gamesa, the preferred bidder for the supply of the wind turbines, has selected Port of Nigg in Cromarty Firth as the planned location for the pre-assembly and installation of the wind turbines.

Moray West is a key part of Scotland’s strategy for energy transition and net-zero carbon emissions. Subject to final award of the project by the Scottish authorities, and the financing to be put in place, the wind farm is expected to be operational by 2024 or 2025.

In 2019 EDPR and Engie formed a 50:50 joint venture to bring together their existing and pipeline portfolios of offshore wind projects and grow their new offshore wind business. 

The two initially combined a total of 1.5GW of assets under construction and 4GW under development, with the target of reaching 5GW to 7GW of projects in operation or under construction, and 5GW to 10GW under advanced development by 2025.

Ocean Winds primarily targets markets in Europe, the United States and selected geographies in Asia, from where most of the growth is expected to come.