Scotland on Wednesday received the first electricity to its power grid from the world's first floating wind farm, located off the Scottish coast near Aberdeen.
The Hywind Scotland, built by Norwegian offshore drilling company Statoil, began operation in September.
The floating turbines are anchored to the sea floor using suction technology commonly found in offshore drilling operations, allowing turbines to be implanted in deep waters were they won't interfere with anything on shore, Ars Technica reported.
Up to 20,000 homes will be able to be powered by the wind farm, Engadget reported. An even larger floating wind farm is expected to be built in the Irish Sea in the near future.
According to Bloomberg, the structure cost $263 million to build and was intended to help Scotland meet climate change goals. Large batteries still have to be installed that will help keep the flow of power steadier.
The Hywind project is receiving government subsidies equivalent to 140 pounds ($185) per megawatt hour, on top of the U.K.’s wholesale power price, which has been around 48.75 ($64) pounds per megawatt hour over the past year, Bloomberg reported.
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