Ocean Winds and Aker Offshore Wind have pledged to invest £235m in the Scottish renewable energy supply chain as part of their joint bid in the ScotWind seabed leasing round.
The offer is included in several offers the partnership has filed in the process, which promise to build supply chain capability many years ahead of the introduction of new floating offshore wind fields in Scotland’s deep waters.
The early investment package of £235m for every successful bid would help deliver the just transition from fossil fuel industries by generating thousands of new jobs and economic opportunities, as well as enabling Scotland to drive down the costs of clean energy through industrialisation of new technology, said the companies.
As part of the consortium, Aker Offshore Wind has submitted proposals for up to three sites in the Outer Moray Firth with the possibility of generating a combined 6GW of wind energy in total as part of the ScotWind leasing programme, with associated total spend of up to £15bn for all three sites.
Through direct work and supply chain opportunities, each proposal is estimated to generate more than 5000 jobs and 200 apprenticeships in Scotland across all project stages, said Aker. There would also be extensive investment in Scotland’s existing ports and harbours, as well as innovative new subsea technology – a particularly key capability of our existing Scottish supply chain.
More than 30 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) are now in place across the supply chain in support of the bids and the early action needed.
There is also a commitment to 60 per cent local supply chain content from the UK, of which 40 per cent minimum content will come from Scotland.
The £235 million of early enabling investment also includes feasibility, benchmark, and implementation studies with selected fabricators seeking to establish or upgrade facilities in Scotland, leveraging Scottish supply chain’s competitive advantages through innovation, workforce development, diversity, and skills transition initiatives, and capital investment costs for Scottish infrastructure facilities.
This will deliver globally-competitive facilities in Scotland for the fabrication and assembly of floating platforms.
“Aker Offshore Wind and its partners can move at speed to support the development of the Scottish supply chain because the companies have already identified which technology they plan to use at floating offshore wind sites: the ‘WindFloat’ developed by Principle Power Inc (PPI) and which has already been in operation for over 10 years with local fabrication as part of its delivery,” said the comapines.
Sian Lloyd-Rees, managing director of Aker Offshore Wind UK, added: “Building on our 180-year industrial heritage, we know early investment is needed if we want Scottish capability to be built ahead of the project execution phase when globally competitive tenders are sought.
“Scotland can be one of the first countries to develop floating wind at scale.
“If we focus on what our supply chain needs and provide it now, we can capture first mover advantage for our supply chain in a number of different technologies and solutions. That’s why we are committed to an enabling investment fund of £235million.
“A just transition requires we put the effort in early to work out what a healthy and growing supply chain needs. This is the cornerstone for the just transition ambition of Scotland and will ensure we deliver clean energy affordably.”