BP and EnBW have launched an online portal for the Scottish engineering and supply sector, as part of their participation in the upcoming ScotWind leasing round.
The supply chain portal will act as a central hub advertising all current and future opportunities for sub-contractors and suppliers associated with any development projects should the companies be successful in the auction.
BP CEO Bernard Looney (pictured) confirmed the ScotWind bid last week.
Companies based in Scotland, with significant operations in Scotland or that have plans to relocate their base or operations to Scotland are encouraged to register interest for future opportunities.
BP executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy Dev Sanyal said: “Scotland has a world-class supply chain with decades of experience in offshore energy – that deep skillset can be readily applied to offshore wind. This portal will ensure the Scottish supply chain – from listed companies to small, family-run operations – can easily access and pair their skills with future upcoming opportunities.”
The site will also invite SMEs looking to transfer their skills or operations to offshore wind.
The portal is being launched ahead of the ScotWind auction, as both BP and EnBW continue to build their respective wind businesses.
Earlier this year, BP entered the UK’s offshore wind power sector together with EnBW in a 50-50 joint venture to jointly develop and operate two leases in the Irish Sea that offer a combined potential generating capacity of 3GW.
In 2020, EnBW started-up Germany’s largest offshore wind project – the Hohe See and Albatros developments in the North Sea, with a combined output of 640MW.
Last year BP formed a partnership with Equinor to develop offshore wind projects in the US, including joining projects with a planned potential 4.4GW generating capacity.
By 2030 BP aims to have developed around 50GW of net renewable generating capacity up from 3.3GW in 2020.
This relates to the aggregate quantity, net to BP, of renewable generating capacity that has been developed to the point of final investment decision.
The strategy also includes plans to increase BP’s annual low carbon investment 10-fold, to around $5bn a year.