Scotland’s offshore wind energy council SOWEC has added seven supply chain projects to the three it has already selected for priority assessment in the Strategic Investment Model (SIM) funding round.
Among the proposals advanced is a turbine manufacturing facility being proposed by Chinese OEM Mingyang.
Three priority projects were announced in February 2024 as SIM pilots (Port of Nigg, Port of Cromarty Firth and a third supply chain project).
A further seven priority projects have now been selected to join these three pilots, with facilitated meetings now being planned between each of the projects and offshore wind developers.
Of these 10 schemes, five are port facilities, four are supply chain proposals and one is an equipment venture.
Two of these priority projects remain confidential, with details not shared outside the SIM Group.
Details of the priority projects are Port of Nigg (pictured, Global Energy Nigg Ltd), Port of Cromary Firth expansion (PoCF), Burntisland Deep Water FOW Facility (Forth Ports Ltd), Hunterston HVDC Cables Factory (XLCC Ltd), Port of Aberdeen South Harbour Upgrade (Port of Aberdeen), Ring Crane Development (Sarens PSG), Scapa Deep Water Quay (Orkney Islands Council), Wind Turbine OEM Facility (Mingyang Smart Energy Group)
The next category is progress projects.
There are 19 schemes with good or medium interest and relevance to developers.
The SIM will support these projects to self-facilitate collaborative engagement with developers, and also bring them together at a marketplace style event later in 2024.
These schemes are being chosen to progress because of high relevance to supporting offshore wind deployment and good potential for collaboration.
Three of these progress projects remain confidential, with details not shared outside the SIM Group.
Over the next few months, offshore wind developers and partners will work collaboratively alongside each scheme to address how to best support it accelerate forward to be ready in time for offshore wind build out in Scotland.
A number of projects are being routed to support outside the SIM that can better assist.
These referral schemes may require further development before a collaborative investment could be looked at.
These projects are being referred to their local enterprise agency or other organisation to continue discussions on ways in which the scheme can be supported.
The progress projects include Fabrication Facility Extension & Upgrade (Harland & Wolff (Methil), Flotta Ultra Deep Water Quay (Repsol Resources UK Limited), Fraserburgh New South Harbour (Fraserburgh Harbour), Kintore Pile Manufacturing Facility (eFab Limited), Kishorn Port Upgrade (Kishorn Port Limited), Micropile Fabrication & Production Facility (Subsea Micropiles (UK), Mobile Heavy Lift Ring Crane (Heavy Lift Projects Ltd) and Montrose O&M Energy Hub (Montrose Port Authority).