All you need to know about the giant yellow towers at Leith Docks dominating the Edinburgh skyline
Huge towers first appeared at the docks three months ago
For three months they have dominated the skyline in Edinburgh, but what are the giant yellow structures at Leith Docks?
That’s the question that’s been on everyone’s lips in recent weeks.
Well we have the answers for you. Here is everything you need to know about the big yellow towers in Leith.
What are they?
The giant yellow towers brought here by offshore company Inch Cape are wind farm parts and the cranes used to lift them. A 228m (748ft) long ship docked in Edinburgh in late February ahead of the construction of components for a wind farm off the Angus coast.
There are two vessels which come into the port to collect the foundation components that both have cranes onboard used primarily for the installation of the components offshore. They are both coming in and out of the port to collect the components of the foundations that are fixed to the seabed as the base for the turbines.
The heavy lift vessel Hua Yang Long arrived at the Port of Leith from Zhuhai in southern China carrying three out of the 18 jacket foundations.
Why are they here?
The jacket foundations will support the wind turbines at the proposed Inch Cape site east of Arbroath. Inch Cape will use a combination of both jacket and XXL monopile foundations for its 72 wind turbines. The two designs allow for the differing water depths, which range from 34 to 64 metres across the 150 square kilometre offshore site.
Jacket foundations are typically used where water depths are above 55 metres and each one is designed to suit its specific location based on water depth, soil conditions and turbine size. Inch Cape has both monopile and jacket foundations due to water depths and seabed conditions.
Just how big are they?
The jacket foundations arriving in Edinburgh are up to 83 metres tall each, twice the height of the nearby Port of Leith Distillery, and they weigh between 2,050 tonnes and 2,250 tonnes.
Inch Cape’s jackets foundations are a lattice steel framework comprising three legs and a transition piece that the wind turbine tower will be bolted to. They are designed and fabricated to withstand the harsh marine environment while providing a stable platform for the project’s wind turbines.
They wind farm components will be installed by heavy lift crane vessel ‘Seaway Alfa Lift’ which will collect them from Forth Ports’ Port of Leith. Once on site, the foundations are lowered individually onto the seabed and secured in place on pre-installed pin piles, one for each leg. The installation of the wind turbines on top of the foundations will begin towards the end of 2026.
The first batch of jacket foundations was shipped on heavy transport vessel Hua Yang Long from fabricators COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries (CFHI), which has been contracted to deliver all Inch Cape’s 18 jacket foundations as well as 24 monopile transition pieces.