Crown Estate Scotland (CES) has selected the
Ørsted,
Falck Renewables and
BlueFloat Energy consortium to enter into an ‘option agreement’ for a new floating offshore wind site off the north-east coast of Scotland. The award for this floating wind site of up to 1GW in scale has been made through CES’s ScotWind offshore wind leasing round.
The project will be located off Caithness, around 50km east of Wick and is Ørsted’s first large-scale floating wind development project anywhere in the world; it will also expand Ørsted’s footprint from onshore wind to offshore wind in Scotland.
Martin Neubert, Ørsted’s chief commercial officer and deputy group CEO, said: “I am pleased that we have been given the opportunity, together with our partners, to develop this project and compete in future floating wind tenders in Scotland with this gigawatt-scale lease. By securing this seabed lease area, we are confirming our ambitions in floating offshore wind while expanding our offshore development pipeline and our long-term commitment to the UK.”
Lasting legacyDuncan Clark, Ørsted’s head of region UK, said: “Scotland has some of the best offshore wind potential in the world and the ScotWind leasing round is a unique opportunity for Scotland to become a global leader in floating offshore wind. We look forward to working with Scottish businesses as we develop our offshore wind project, investing in the local supply chain and creating new jobs and skills that will leave a lasting legacy for communities around the country.”
As part of the preparatory work to deliver the floating wind farm the consortium will collaborate with Energy Skills Partnership Scotland (ESP) to help train up a skilled workforce in time for construction to begin.
Meanwhile, at Ørsted’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, DEME Offshore has completed the installation of 165 wind turbines in just seven months. Later this year, when the wind farm is fully operational, it will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
The first of the 8MW Siemens Gamesa wind turbines was installed at the end of May 2021. Just over seven months later, the turbine installation phase of the Hornsea Two project was completed. This news came just a month after first power was achieved at the wind farm.