The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) has hailed the latest results of Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, noting the country is now a world leader in floating offshore wind.
The INTOG announcement of 5.4GW of new capacity being offered leases means that when added to existing Scottish projects such as ScotWind, Scotland now has a pipeline of over 36GW, including 22.5GW of floating offshore wind.
This floating pipeline represents over 30% of the global total of known floating projects, strengthening Scotland’s position as a global leader in floating offshore wind.
SOWEC industry co-chair Brian McFarlane said: “The successful announcement of INTOG demonstrates strong appetite among industry for new project leases. It also demonstrates that our sector is innovating and helping Scotland manage its energy transition.
“To build these projects we will need to make use of Scottish deepsea expertise built up over many years. That gives us the opportunity to show the world how to successfully build and operate floating offshore wind sites and commercialise innovation that will come from this early experience.
“Since ScotWind leases were announced 14 months ago, SOWEC has been working with each ScotWind project to deliver a Collaborative Framework. This team-Scotland approach gives us the best chance of putting in place the port and manufacturing capability these projects are going to need, as well as scaling up the Scottish supply chain benefits from offshore wind. We look forward to working with new INTOG leaseholders as part of cross-industry collaboration.”
Scottish Renewables’ chief executive, Claire Mack added: “Today’s announcement from Crown Estate Scotland is one step forward on the road to the industrial decarbonisation of Scotland.
“It is essential that INTOG is aligned with ScotWind and its commitments to the Scottish supply chain which should enable strong collaboration between projects to invest and support Scottish suppliers with the delivery of these projects.
“ScotWind will be at the forefront of the drive to achieve Scotland’s net-zero ambitions and must remain the priority as we see an increase in demand for resources and connections to the electricity network.
“We recognise that the marine planning process is already under significant pressure and urge the Scottish government to ensure that appropriate resources are in place across key bodies to enable deployment of ScotWind and INTOG at the pace and scale required to achieve a secure, affordable, low-carbon energy system.”