Ocean Winds, Mainstream and ESB boost floating wind power in Scotland

Ocean Winds, Mainstream Renewable Power and ESB have signed seabed lease agreements with Crown Estate Scotland for the development of three floating offshore wind farms off the Shetland Islands in Scotland that are expected to generate 2.8 GW of power.

The three projects include the 1.8 GW offshore wind farm from Ocean Winds and Mainstream, a 500 MW development from Irish utility ESB, and a separate 500 MW fleet from Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie.

Full seabed leases are awarded at a later stage once applicants have obtained the necessary consents from regulators, such as Marine Scotland, and have secured grid connections and financing.

“Building on Scottish Mainstream’s development experience and the Aker group’s decades-long offshore heritage in the North Sea, we are ready to take a leading role in the industrialization of floating offshore wind,” said Sian Lloyd. . -Rees, UK country manager for Mainstream, which is to merge with Norway’s Aker Offshore Wind and investment firm Aker Horizons will gain majority ownership of around 58.6%.

The latest additions bring the total number of ScotWind projects with confirmed option deals to 20, corresponding to up to 27.6 GW of clean energy.

The three successful bidders will pay a total of £56 million ($64 million) in option fees, bringing ScotWind’s total option fee figure for the 20 projects to £755 million ($866.5 million). Once operational, the projects will pay multimillion-dollar annual payments to Crown Estate Scotland, which will be transferred to the Scottish government for public spending.

This is the first stage of an extensive process these projects will go through as they evolve through the planning, consent, and funding stages. Responsibility for these next steps does not lie with the Crown Estate Scotland, and the projects will only progress to a full lease of the seabed once all of these planning stages have been completed.

“We look forward to hearing from the many stakeholders who will have an interest in these projects as we begin the development process to realize the potential of these projects. Developing a robust route to market to support future investment will be an initial focus,” added Adam Morrison, UK manager for Ocean Winds.