Canadian oil major Talisman Energy has been granted regulatory approval for the development of a deepwater wind farm demonstrator project adjacent to the company's Beatrice oilfield, 25km off the east coast of Scotland.

The project, a joint venture between Calgary-based Talisman Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), will test the technical and economic feasibility of deepwater wind farms in water depths of about 45 m.

“We are delighted that the demonstrator project has received development consent,” said Dr. Jim Buckee, president and chief executive officer. “We are now in the final stages of fabrication and assembly and plan to install the turbines within the next few months. During the next few years the results of this project will influence the development of wind turbine technology around the world.

“Many of the skills used in the offshore oil and gas industry are transferable to the renewable energy sector, thereby potentially creating new investment and employment opportunities in the North Sea. The existing infrastructure at Beatrice offers a unique opportunity to test the feasibility of deepwater wind farms.”

Two 5 MW turbines, which are approximately 85 m high, will be sited in the Moray Firth with the output used to power the Beatrice platform, with the production platforms providing a base from which to carry out turbine monitoring and maintenance.

The demonstrator project has been incorporated into the pan-European initiative, DOWNVInD (Distant Offshore Wind Farms With No Visual Impact In Deepwater), with the European Community awarding €6 million, with the Scottish Executive and the DTI £3 million ($5.5 million) each.

Dr. Jim Buckee, Talisman’s president and chief executive, indicated that the company is now in the final stages of fabrication and assembly and plans to install the turbines within the next few months. He commented: “Many of the skills used in the offshore oil and gas industry are transferable to the renewable energy sector, thereby potentially creating new investment and employment opportunities in the North Sea. The existing infrastructure at Beatrice offers a unique opportunity to test the feasibility of deepwater wind farms.”

The news comes as the Carbon Trust reveals details of its latest study indicating that inefficiencies in the UK’s Renewables Obligation (RO) could increase the overall cost of installed renewable power generation capacity by £14 billion ($25.5 billion) by 2020.

The report suggests that developing offshore wind in the short-term should be a key priority of the RO as it will deliver significant future savings on energy costs. But at present, the obligation encourages the lowest-cost form of power generation, which is onshore wind capacity. The most efficient mechanism to achieve development of emerging technologies in terms of cost per unit of energy is to introduce a fixed premium on top of the wholesale electricity price for power generated by renewables, dependent on the technology’s maturity. This, it claims, would lead to the development of 3.5 GW more offshore wind capacity by 2015 than would otherwise be the case, at a saving of around £1 billion ($1.8 billion).