Project’s first jacket foundations arrive in Port of Leith
The first three of Inch Cape’s 18 jacket foundations arrived in the Port of Leith this week, adding to the local skyline and creating new levels of interest in the project.
Jacket foundations support the wind turbines offshore and Inch Cape will use a combination of both jacket and XXL monopile foundations for its 72 wind turbines. The two designs allow for the differing water depths, which range from 34 to 64 metres across the 150 square kilometre offshore site .
Jacket foundations are typically used where water depths are above 55 metres and each one is designed to suit its specific location based on water depth, soil conditions and turbine size.
These initial jacket foundations arriving in Edinburgh are up to 83 metres tall each, twice the height of the nearby Port of Leith Distillery, and they weigh between 2,050 tonnes and 2,250 tonnes. The tallest jackets to come will be almost 90 metres in height.
Inch Cape’s jackets foundations are a lattice steel framework comprising three legs and a transition piece that the wind turbine tower will be bolted to. They are designed and fabricated to withstand the harsh marine environment while providing a stable platform for the project’s wind turbines.
They will be installed by heavy lift crane vessel Seaway Alfa Lift which will collect them from Forth Ports’ Port of Leith. Once on site, the foundations are lowered individually onto the seabed and secured in place on pre-installed pin piles, one for each leg. The installation of the wind turbines on top of the foundations will begin towards the end of 2026.
The first batch of jacket foundations was shipped on heavy transport vessel Hua Yang Long from fabricators COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries (CFHI), which has been contracted to deliver all Inch Cape’s 18 jacket foundations as well as 24 monopile transition pieces.
You can watch a short aerial video of the vessel about the arrival and offloading of the jacket foundations at the Port here.
