Orsted has revealed its intention to invest up to £12bn directly with Scottish companies on developing and constructing offshore wind farms in the country over the next decades.
These proposals are contained in bids submitted to Crown Estate Scotland through its ScotWind offshore wind leasing round and would provide more than 8.5GW of clean, renewable electricity if Orsted’s bids are successful.
The company has entered bids for a total of five projects; two floating wind-only bids, as part of its joint venture partnership with BlueFloat Energy and Falck Renewables, and a further three as Orsted alone which include a mix of fixed and floating wind technologies.
Orsted chief commercial officer Martin Neubert said: “We committed to these ambitious plans for the ScotWind leasing round not only because Scotland can play a key role in achieving our aspiration but because we firmly believe our scale and experience in offshore wind puts us in a unique position to help Scotland transition to a low carbon economy as quickly as possible.
“By incorporating large-scale offshore wind generation alongside renewable hydrogen and green fuels to decarbonise hard-to abate sectors in heavy industry and transport, we will create a truly integrated decarbonisation solution delivering low-cost, renewable power.
“We believe our bids represent a significant contribution to achieving Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets and will underpin the country’s renewable energy economy for generations.”
Duncan Clark, head of region UK for Orsted said the company is looking forward to bringing to bear Orsted’s “decades of experience” to support the growth of the offshore wind industry and its supply chain in Scotland.
This includes a commitment to work with Scottish ports and suppliers to develop infrastructure and a supply chain that will enable Scotland to establish itself as a leading player in the global offshore wind market.
He said: “Scotland undoubtedly has some of the best offshore wind resources in the world.
“The ScotWind leasing round is a pivotal moment for the development of the offshore wind sector in Scotland, capitalising on its superb offshore wind potential and world-leading offshore engineering and contracting capabilities, unlocking investment that will create jobs and opportunities for Scottish businesses for generations.”
Floating wind is key to Orsted’s proposals, with floating foundations deployed at scale alongside fixed-bottom turbines.
These floating offshore wind projects would be developed on an accelerated timeline to deliver green power for Scotland and are part of an integrated strategy to build up Scotland’s floating wind portfolio, as the technology develops, alongside the gigawatt scale floating wind only projects we are proposing alongside Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy.
Orsted plans to develop renewable hydrogen projects in Scotland using some of the electricity from the proposed offshore wind farms.