Overview

Beatrice Offshore Windfarm, which became operational in 2019, was one of the largest ever private investments in Scottish infrastructure with a capital expenditure of around £2.5bn. Capable of generating electricity for up to 450,000 homes annually, Beatrice is one of Scotland’s largest operational offshore wind farms and single sources of renewable energy generation. Located around 13.5km from the Caithness coastline, Beatrice Offshore Windfarm comprises 84 Siemens Gamesa 7MW wind turbines and is operated and maintained by a team of up to 90 people from the wind farm’s operations and maintenance base at Wick Harbour.

Gap the project addresses  

Beatrice Offshore Windfarm plays a small but vital contribution in preventing the worst impacts of climate breakdown, through reducing national emissions and decarbonising electricity. It provides a critical contribution to the decarbonisation of the UK’s electricity system through powering 450,000 homes each year. Additionally, the offshore wind farm unlocks multiple socio-economic benefits, including long-term skilled employment and community benefits, such as the Beatrice Community Benefit Fund.

Ownership model 

Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Ltd. (BOWL) is a joint venture (JV) partnership between SSE Renewables, Red Rock Renewables, TRIG Renewables Infrastructure Group, and Equitix.

Policy and funding 

At around £2.5bn, the quantum of capital expenditure required to deliver the project meant that securing private investment and financial partnering was critical. In 2015, MUFG was appointed as financial adviser, tasked with delivering a satisfactory financing structure. Bringing together BOWL shareholders and a consortium of lenders and advisers, a bespoke financing structure was created in time to reach financial close on schedule. In July 2019, BOWL achieved a financial close on the refinancing of its senior debt facilities, a testament to the track record built up by the project through the successful delivery of the construction phase.

Innovation 

In 2014, BOWL received innovation-focused financial support totalling £440,000 from Scottish Enterprise and a further £750,000, through the Offshore Wind Accelerator, from the Scottish Government. The funding was aimed at progressing Beatrice’s state of the art design in installation techniques and substructures for the new generation of 6MW+ turbines as well as an optimised electrical transmission system.

Government CfD process 

Beatrice Offshore Windfarm has a UK Government 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) which is in place since 2019. This is a financial support mechanism which guarantees a fixed income for the power BOWL generates over the length of the contract.

Impact to date

Economic Impact

• Beatrice contributed £460m to the Scottish economy during the development and construction phases, as part of a total £1.3bn contribution to the wider UK economy.
• Beatrice’s economic benefit is set to be even greater during its operational phase, with the project expected to add £72m of value to the UK economy on average every year, of which £34m will be in Scotland.[1]

Domestic content and supply chain

• Taking all project phases into account, an independent BiGGAR Economics assessment highlighted UK companies secured contracts worth £3.2bn, of which around £2bn were with companies in Scotland. This is equal to 62% content for the UK, and 39% content for Scotland.

Energy

• Powers 450,000 homes annually through 84 Siemens Gamesa turbines

Communities

• Beatrice Offshore Windfarm provided Partnership and Local Funds worth a total of £6m to local communities during construction and early operations.  A dedicated impact report on the five-year funding is here, including lessons learnt, and key features of its approach: Funds | beatricewind

Jobs

• Approx 70 operational FTE roles based in Wick, including SSE Renewables employees, Siemens Gamesa (Turbine OEM) and vessel personnel
• 19,110 years of employment supported during the development and construction phase [2]. Beatrice supported a similar amount of employment to the (ongoing) employment provided by the forestry and logging or other mining and quarrying sectors. see page 14
• Skills transfer with offshore roles including oil and gas
• In 2023/24, approximately 30% of employees at Beatrice came from a high carbon role in according to SSE’s Great Place to Work 2024 survey. In mid 2025, , six of the seven workers making up the control room at Beatrice came from the oil and gas sector. These workers had a transferable skillset for offshore wind given their previous offshore, electrical and mechanical experience.
• The Marine Coordination Centre make-up at Beatrice consists of a mixture of former shipping, fishing and oil and gas workers. Knowledge of the local marine environment is essential for this role, hence recruitment from former maritime professionals was mutually beneficial.
• Initially Beatrice Offshore Windfarm attracted former offshore oil and gas workers who were looking for local employment with a fixed hour week rather than offshore rotations (three weeks on/off). The opportunities at Beatrice were shared by stakeholder outreach, local media, LinkedIn and online posts, and word of mouth. The workforce strategy was centred on attracting local workers to the Wick area versus targeting specific sectors, such as oil and gas. Alongside wanting to create long-term, sustainable jobs, recruiting local employees from Wick minimised the need of re-locating external workers within the rural area. The strategy was therefore a win-win for the area and for Beatrice.  
• However, given the location of Wick and its rich history in maritime, fisheries and energy, a local workforce strategy meant that Beatrice’s workforce has inevitably been made up of traditional offshore skillsets, such as oil and gas. It is an example which strongly reinforces the importance of place and geography for a just transition.

Nature

• SSE Renewables strives to contribute towards a greater understanding of marine environments and ocean science through its collaborative approach with research partners. For further information on this, please see 47 of SSE Renewables’ Sustainability Report 2024 sser-sustainability-2024.pdf.

Contribution to just transition

Beatrice Offshore Windfarm contributes to a just transition in Scotland through a variety of actions and processes. The below table details key areas of the Scottish National Just Transition Outcomes and highlights how Beatrice contributes towards them.

Just transition outcomes and project contribution

Citizen, communities and place

• Over £20m was invested in redeveloping Wick’s harbour front, bringing direct and indirect economic benefit to the local area.

Jobs, skills and education

• Provision of 70 jobs during the operation of the Wind Farm based out of Wick, and support of thousands of jobs during the development and construction phase .

Fair distribution of costs and benefits

• Benefits of climate action i.e. generation of renewable energy distributed to communities through the £6m Beatrice Offshore Windfarm community benefit fund.

Business and economy

• Local economy and local content/businesses engaged throughout works, including significant local content achievements (detailed above) and local contractors used in rejuvenation of Wick Harbour. An example of this is the local contractor GMR Henderson who led the refurbishment of Wick harbour buildings.

Decarbonisation and efficiencies

• Since 2019, Beatrice avoided an estimated 4.9 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) by displacing carbon-intensive forms of generation in the UK energy mix. [1]

Contribution to local heritage

Once one of the busiest herring ports in Europe, Wick was conceived as a self-contained fishing community by renowned civil engineer and architect Thomas Telford. However, many local buildings deteriorated as the herring industry declined.

In 2014, a decision was taken to locate the long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) base in Wick. Over £20m was invested in redeveloping Wick’s harbour front, bringing direct and indirect economic benefit to the local area with over 75% of the workforce involved in the O&M base construction from the local community, including for local firm GMR Henderson.

With the building sensitively restored, the base in Wick Harbour is now the long-term legacy of the Beatrice project, hosting the O&M base for 25 years. The Wick Harbour Authority is guaranteed 25 years of rental and harbour fees, supporting its further development in the long run.

Local businesses continue to benefit from the increased employment and economic activity in the area.

Benefits to the local area

Benefits include employment, reinvigoration of the harbour providing a space for community, and other benefits supported by the community investment fund into a range of areas including rural jobs, community centres, and protecting cultural heritage.

Lessons learned

There are six key important learnings about socio-economic value relevant for a just transition that SSE Renewables has learned from Beatrice. These are:

• The power of partnership. It took a leap of faith for partners from across the private and public sectors to envisage a model for at-scale deep-water offshore wind generation at an affordable price.
• The value of flexibility. Key stakeholders like communities must have their say, and developers need to be prepared to be flexible in responding to what they have said.
• The importance of the long-term. Effective offshore wind farm development must involve decisions that look beyond immediate considerations and take account of social, economic and environmental value over decades.
• The willingness to learn hard lessons. When things do go wrong, decisive action must be taken to set right the wrong.
•  The need to maximise value. Although the project has made a significant contribution to the economy of Scotland and of the UK, there remains room to work with the industry and governments to maximise this value.
• The importance of place: The location of Wick meant the project was able to capitalise on local oil and gas skills and workers, emphasising the importance of geography to support worker transitions.

This is further detailed in a report dedicated to unpacking the socio-economic benefits and learnings of Beatrice. 22cf9a_f92d869d19c14f86b7aceb4dc304da2a.pdf

Constraints and challenge

While the location of the wind farm has often been a positive in terms of attracting locally skilled workers from the oil and gas and energy sector, it has also meant that it has – conversely – also often struggled to get suitably trained and experienced local people – particularly as competition from other renewables developers grows.

Whilst neighbouring wind farms Moray East and West are located outside of the local recruitment catchment, the Caledonia Offshore Wind Farm, running only 15 miles away, creates strong competition for local recruits. Additionally, its remote northern location poses a barrier to external recruitment. Temporary roles over summer such as Senior Authorised Persons (SAPs) and scaffolders, which could be sourced from outside the region are often unwilling to make the long journey due to a full day of transport lost at each end. Maintaining a workforce in the region is therefore an ongoing challenge.

Beatrice highlights both the benefits and challenges of place for a just transition. It has been able to profit from its neighbouring energy industries, while also facing challenges due to its rural location to attract workers from further afield.

Replication and scaling

Following the construction of Beatrice, SSE Renewables has replicated, delivered and developed similar offshore wind projects across the UK with partners. This includes the operational Seagreen (1,075MW) off Scotland’s Angus Coast, and the in-construction Dogger Bank (3,600MW) off England’s East Yorkshire Coast. For example, Seagreen Wind Farm – a Joint Venture between SSE Renewables, PTTEP, and TotalEnergies – also placed importance on ensuring that local and regional based companies are used for construction, where possible – ensuring the project was a catalyst for socio-economic development in Angus and the surrounding area. The operations building for Seagreen was also repurposed from a two-storey modular office block that was previously used by an oil and gas supply chain company in Aberdeen. In recycling the building by moving it to Montrose, Seagreen was able to contribute towards the local and circular economy, reusing over 54 tonnes of steel and saving 99 tonnes of CO2. The main contractor on the construction was Montrose-based company, Pert Bruce, with the steel work being subcontracted out to another Montrose company, Harry Maiden.

Working conditions and fair work practices

Featured organisations and initiatives were asked to supply the following information regarding working conditions:

• Alignment with Scottish Government Fair Work First criteria
• If they have gone beyond Fair Work First by incorporating broader values on fair work
• For larger organisations, whether a union recognition agreement is in place.

This did not apply to co-operatives structures and membership-based initiatives, though all projects and initiatives were given room to provide any detail on fair work practices deemed relevant.

The following information was provided:

Please see SSE’s Human rights report for information on SSE’s approach to fair work, including its decade worth of commitment to the Real Living Wage movement: modern-slavery-statement-2024.pdf

SSE works in partnership with four recognised trade unions (Unite, Prospect, Unison and GMB). Through SSE’s Sustainable Procurement Code, suppliers and contractors are also required to have policies in place which cover the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association for workers.

Meaningful employment means remunerating people fairly for the work they do. The year 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of SSE becoming a real Living Wage accredited employer in the UK. Beyond being an accredited employer, SSE actively promotes the principles of fair pay, working to tackle the challenge of in-work poverty through Living Wage initiatives over the decade. SSE is also the Co-Chair of Living Wage Scotland’s Leadership Group and, in 2023/24, joined the Living Wage Steering Group as Chair on the Global Living Wage, further supporting the movement. Key milestones in SSE’s commitment to the Living Wage over the last 10 years since its initial accreditation include SSE becoming one of the first companies in the UK to become accredited to all three of the Living Wage Foundation’s core initiatives – real Living Wage, Living Hours and Living Pensions.

Case study

Some projects were selected for more in-depth profile through examples that showcased their impact on communities, businesses and workers.

The researcher spoke to Alan Paul, the control room team lead for the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm.

Alan Paul was born and brought up in Wick, Caithness, and works as a Control Room Team Lead in the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm. Alan worked offshore for 27 years before transitioning to the renewables industry. He worked for two years in onshore wind before joining SSE’s Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm in December 2017, initially as a control room operator, and then promoted to control room team lead.

Though moving into renewables meant taking a significant pay cut, in Alan’s eyes this has been, on balance, worthwhile. It has meant an end to the highly stressful three weeks on, three weeks off schedule that was being introduced offshore by the operators. Alan emphasises that,

Coming to renewables, because it was a local job, it allowed me to live in my own house every night, whereas for the last 27 years I felt like a bit of a lodger. Coming back both to onshore and then coming to Beatrice, I was living at home, so it gave me more of a family life. I could be at home for birthdays and anything that was going on.

Alan feels he has the skills to transition, from thorough apprenticeships and training programmes in nuclear and the oil and gas industry. Like many from Caithness and nearby areas, he did his apprenticeship in the Dounreay nuclear site. His first year was a general broad-skilled training package, after which he specialised in electrical work which itself included a broad spectrum needed on the highly technical and specialised Dounreay site. But as Alan reached the end of his apprenticeship in 1988, cuts were made to the fast reactor programme, and he was unable to find permanent work at the site. His training allowed him to move into oil and gas, where he worked as an electrician, and then in maintenance. He also underwent a multi-skilling programme which further strengthened his skillset. “Coming from oil and gas into renewables, all the skills were already there. Everything that I needed, I had the ability to do.”

Reference[2] This is a measure of the employment which is equivalent to one person being employed for an entire year and is typically used when considering short-term employment impacts, such as those associated with construction and infrastructure projects.