Scotland announced today awards for the development of nearly 25 GW of offshore wind energy from its ScotWind seabed leasing round, generating £700 million in option fees for the Scottish government. Successful bidders included Iberdrola’s ScottishPower, bp, Shell, SSE, Falck, Ocean Winds, Vattenfall, and Macquarie’s GIG, TotalEnergies, and RIDG joint venture Offshore Wind Power.
The ScotWind bid process was run by Crown Estate Scotland, which manages land and property owned by the Monarch in right of the Crown, including rights for Scotland’s seabed. According to Crown Estate Scotland, ScotWind aims to significantly increase the amount of power generated from renewable energy, forming a major step in Scotland’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2045.
Simon Hodge, Chief Executive of Crown Estate Scotland, said:
“Today’s results are a fantastic vote of confidence in Scotland’s ability to transform our energy sector. Just a couple of months after hosting COP26, we’ve now taken a major step towards powering our future economy with renewable electricity.”
Overall, 17 projects out of 74 applications were selected, including 10 floating projects with over 14GW of capacity, 5 fixed projects, and one mixed. The largest awards included a 3,000 MW floating wind project by ScottishPower and a fixed 2,907 MW project by bp.
Shell and energy producer ScottishPower have secured joint offers for seabed rights. The partners have won two sites representing a total of 5 GW. The new wind farms will be delivered through two joint ventures called MarramWind and CampionWind. Once built, the floating wind projects could accommodate a total generation capacity of around 3 GW and 2 GW, respectively.
Bernard Looney, bp CEO, said:
“Our plans go much further than just the turbines offshore. They see us investing in projects and in people — from EV charging to green hydrogen — aligned with Scotland’s energy transition plans. “This is good business — making disciplined investments and demonstrating what an integrated energy company can do; we can’t wait to get to work.”
The full list of the 17 successful applicants includes BP Alternative Energy Investments, SSE Renewables, Falck Renewables, Shell New Energies, Vattenfall, DEME, DEME, Falck Renewables, Ocean Winds, Falck Renewables, Scottish Power Renewables, BayWa, Offshore Wind Power, Northland Power, Magnora, Northland Power, and Scottish Power Renewables.
The post 25 GW ScotWind Offshore Wind Awards Announced appeared first on ESG Today.
