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Huge ship carrying wind farm parts docks in Leith

News imageBBC The heavy lift vessel Hua Yang Long sitting in port at Leith. It is mainly red and white but has a large yellow tower in the middle as well as large yellow cylinders.BBC
Heavy lift vessel Hua Yang Long arrived in Leith in late February

A 228m (748ft) long ship has docked in Edinburgh ahead of the construction of components for a wind farm off the Angus coast.

The heavy lift vessel Hua Yang Long arrived at the Port of Leith from Zhuhai in southern China on 24 February carrying 18 jacket foundations intended for the proposed Inch Cape site east of Arbroath.

The ship, which was built in 2015 and sails under the Chinese flag, is around two football pitches in length and as wide as five double decker buses.

Inch Cape Offshore, the company behind the wind farm, said the project could make up 10% of the Scottish government's 11 gigawatt (GW) offshore capacity target when fully operational.

The foundations, which will support 72 wind turbines, are up to 83m (272ft) tall and have been designed to withstand the harsh North Sea environment.

News imageA large yellow tower on board a ship in Leith.
The ship's cargo will form the foundations of a wind farm off the coast of Arbroath

The giant yellow towers will be transported from Leith to the Inch Cape site by the crane vessel Seaway Alfa Lift and are installed by lowering them onto pre-installed pins in the seabed.

Inch Cape said the installation would take place towards the end of 2026.

The Scottish government has a target of increasing offshore wind capacity to between eight and 11GW by 2030.

Inch Cape said its project alone should have a capacity of 1.1GW when completed.

Power will then be transmitted about 46 nautical miles to shore via undersea cables and connect to the National Grid at Cockenzie Power Station in East Lothian.

Last year, roads were closed as a huge power transformer was moved into place.