Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn are to develop up to 1900MW of floating offshore wind in Scotland.
The partners were awarded exclusivity to develop two projects, Green Volt and Cenos, under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round for offshore wind.
The successful bid means that the Green Volt and Cenos wind farms could begin generating first power from 2027 and 2028 respectively, making them the most advanced projects for electrification and decarbonisation of oil and gas platforms with floating offshore wind in Europe, the developers said.
The power and grid-connection supplied through Green Volt and Cenos will provide renewable energy to oil and gas platforms in the surrounding areas, replacing power currently generated by gas turbines. Simultaneously, up to 7 TWh of energy from the projects will be supplied to the UK grid annually, providing consumers with renewable electricity. Overall, the projects are estimated to cut emissions by 3m tonnes of carbon each year while supporting the commercialisation of floating offshore wind technology.
By securing area exclusivity in the INTOG round, the Green Volt and Cenos projects are positioned to spark a local supply chain for floating offshore wind to develop in Scotland, also providing significant contributions to Scotland’s 2045 Net Zero target, and The North Sea Transition Deal’s goal to halve offshore emissions by 2030.
Nicol Stephen, CEO of Flotation Energy said: “We are very pleased to have been offered seabed rights for both of our North Sea decarbonisation projects. These floating wind farms will make a huge contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions from offshore oil and gas platforms by replacing industrial-scale gas turbines with renewable energy, while also becoming long-term infrastructure assets providing electricity to millions of Scottish homes.
“The scale of these floating wind projects is huge. They will deliver billions of pounds of new infrastructure investment and help to create thousands of local jobs, giving a major boost to the Scottish supply chain.”