The world’s first full-scale floating wind farm has started to take shape off the north-east coast of Scotland (15 miles from Peterhead).

This revolutionary technology has the potential to allow wind power to be harvested in waters that are too deep for conventional bottom-standing wind turbines.

The Hywind wind farm is expected (by manufacturer Statoil) to have an output equal to or larger than current wind farms. The company hopes to cash in the potential for this technology in deep-water places like Japan and the US west coast.

Hywind project director Leif Delp said: “This is a tech development project to ensure that it works in open-sea conditions.

“It’s a game-changer for floating wind power, and we are sure it will help to bring costs down. I think we will eventually see floating wind farms compete without subsidy, but we need to get building at scale to achieve that.”

The operation to position the first of the 11,500-tonne turbines began in the half-light of a Norwegian summer night. Crews secured thick cables to tug boats and used remote-controlled submarines to check for obstacles.

Finally the giant turbine was on the move, floating on a sealed vase-like tube 78m deep, its bottom filled with iron ore to keep it upright in the water.