Monopiles installed at Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm

• 3 June 2026
• Environment, Windfarms
• Inch Cape

Inch Cape has successfully installed 54 giant monopiles in the North Sea off the Scottish coast, following the first installation in December 2025.

The monopiles, each 11.5 metres in diameter, up to 102 metres long and weighing about 2,300 tonnes, are among the largest used for an offshore wind farm. Their installation highlights the project’s success despite earlier challenges.

The project director John Hill stated the installation of the monopiles is “confirmation of the project’s momentum as we continue an extremely busy period of offshore construction activity”.

In addition to the 54 monopiles, the Inch Cape project will include 18 jacket foundations with 54 pin piles to support its 72 Vestas 15 MW turbines.

Jan De Nul’s heavy lift vessel Les Alizés was used, making trips from the port of Leith in Edinburgh, transporting five monopiles per journey and installing them offshore.

The vessel is equipped with a 5,000-tonne crane standing 160 metre high, along with a IQIP pile lifting tool with a hydraulic impact hammer used to drive the monopiles into the seabed.

To protect marine mammals during construction several provisions were implemented, including acoustic deterrent devices, a soft start to piling, and noise monitoring programs.

The next phase of offshore construction happening this year will include installing transition pieces and jacket foundations, and setting up the remaining second export cable, first array cables and the initial turbines.

The project remains on schedule, with full commercial operations expected by 2027.

For more information about offshore wind farm projects across the globe, click here.