Seabed agreements have been announced for three new developments in the waters around Shetland – which together are expected to generate some 2.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity.
The three projects have all been offered option agreements as part of the Crown Estate’s ScotWind clearing process.
The deal was announced as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Aberdeen for an offshore wind supply chain summit with Energy Secretary Michael Matheson and oil industry tycoon Sir Ian Wood.
She stated that new offshore wind power projects will be “crucial” as Scotland seeks to become “one of the net zero capitals of Europe”, adding that the ScotWind programme, which will see parts of the seabed around Scotland leased for offshore wind, would “deliver a new era” for the industry.
Sturgeon hailed the initiative, saying it represented “the world’s largest commercial round for floating offshore wind and breaks new ground in putting large-scale floating wind technology on the map at gigawatt scale”, and pointing out: “It will provide several billion pounds more in rental revenues once projects become operational, to be invested for the benefit of the people of Scotland.”
She later spoke to journalists outside the conference in Aberdeen, acknowledging there were “challenges” in building new infrastructure which would service the offshore developments.
The three new developments that seabed agreements have been announced for should see £56m raised for the Scottish Government in option fees – with further payments of £4m per GW per year also expected once they are up and running.
While the announcement of seabed agreements is just the first stage in that process, Colin Palmer, the director of marine at Crown Estate Scotland, hailed the news as “a fantastic result for Shetland and for Scotland”.
He added: “These projects have significant potential to really boost Scotland’s progress towards its net-zero targets, including in relation to the opportunity around green hydrogen.
“Taking these three into account, the 20 ScotWind projects now total up to 27.6GW with initial supply chain commitments indicating an average of £1.4bn investment in Scotland per gigawatt of capacity built.
“This result is further proof that Scotland is leading globally on offshore wind, deploying new technology and exploiting the potential of hydrogen.”
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