OREANDA-NEWS. Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Ltd (BOWL) will be supporting this year’s Wick Lifeboat Station’s RNLI Open Day on Saturday 20 June at Wick Harbour. The event will offer a free, fun family day out with local food and drink stalls, games and an opportunity to meet the local lifeboat crew.

As part of proceedings for the day, BOWL will host a stall at the event to present the latest information on plans for the proposed Operations and Maintenance (O+M) facility at Wick Harbour. BOWL announced in July 2014 that Wick had been chosen as the preferred location for the offshore wind farm’s O+M base, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Wick Harbour Authority (WHA). 

Since then we have been working with WHA and the RNLI investigating plans for the proposed building and developing preliminary designs. As part of these plans, it is proposed that a new facility for Wick’s RNLI lifeboat station may be incorporated into the new marine base building, providing an upgraded work space for the organisation.  

Peter Campbell, BOWL’s Project Manager for Ports and Logistics stated:

“BOWL is delighted to attend and support the RNLI’s Open Day this year at Wick harbour. Representatives from the BOWL project team will be on hand at the Beatrice stall to provide an update on the latest project information and answer any questions on the day. All feedback on our plans is welcome and we hope you will come along and support this fantastic event.”

The Beatrice project was consented by Marine Scotland in March 2014 and granted an Investment Contract by the UK government in May 2014. Subject to a final investment decision, manufacture and construction activities are planned in 2016 with offshore construction planned for 2017. As well as generating up to 664MW of renewable electricity if constructed, the project is expected to bring a range of socio-economic benefits to both the Moray and Highland regions including job creation, skills training opportunities and opportunities for local businesses through SSE’s Open4Business initiative.