THE world’s largest floating offshore wind farm will be built off the coast of Peterhead, after the Scottish Government gave the project the green light yesterday.

The Statoil development will be the first of its kind in the UK, and will be the biggest in the world, with the capacity to power nearly 20,000 houses.

Developers hope to begin onshore construction for the Hywind project within the next year, with the pilot date set for 2017.

The five floating 6MW turbines will sit above the North Sea, just 25km off the coast of Peterhead in North East Scotland, and generate up to 135GWh of electricity per year.

The five large turbines will be secured to the seabed through an anchoring system, and will be connected to the shore in Peterhead through a complex cable system. As well as providing a new source on renewable energy, the Carbon Trust say floating windfarms could reduce current generating costs.

Developments such as Hywind could cut generating costs to below £100 per MWh, with the potential to reduce to as little as £85 per MWh.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney welcomed the development, saying that due to Scotland’s existing expertise in the field of offshore oil and gas technology, it is well placed to become a “world leader” in the floating renewable energy sector.

“Hywind is a hugely exciting project – in terms of electricity generation and technology innovation – and it’s a real testament to our energy sector expertise and skilled workforce that Statoil chose Scotland for the world’s largest floating wind farm. The momentum is building.”