Overview

Located approximately 13km from the Caithness coast, Beatrice became fully operational in June 2019 following seven years of development and three years of construction.

Beatrice is operated by SSE Renewables on behalf of a joint venture partnership between SSE Renewables (40%), Red Rock Power Limited (25%), The Renewables Infrastructure Group (17.5%) and Equitix (17.5%).

With a capital expenditure of around £2.5bn, Beatrice was also one of the largest ever private investments in Scottish infrastructure.

Beatrice was delivered on time and under budget.

It is one of Scotland's largest operational offshore wind farms and capable of providing enough wind powered electricity for up to 450,000 homes.

Beatrice is operated and maintained from its base at Wick Harbour on the north east coast of Scotland.

Onshore construction began in Moray in May 2016 and offshore construction began in April 2017.

The first wind turbine was installed and first power exported in July 2018.

The final turbine was installed on 14 May 2019.

Our official opening

We were privileged to be joined by HRH the Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, to formally open Beatrice on 29 July 2019 in the company of our joint venture partners, stakeholders, colleagues and contractors.

The Beatrice Community Funds

The Beatrice Community Benefit Funds, worth a combined total of around £6m, benefitting communities in the Highlands and Moray areas of Scotland are now closed to applications.

Launched at the start of the wind farm construction phase, the £6m has now been fully allocated to community groups, organisations and projects through a number of funding application rounds since the fund was launched.

In March 2023, the project produced a report looking back at the positive outcomes that have been realised by the Beatrice Funds, along with case studies of some of the many projects who have benefitted.

You can read the report by clicking here.