Salamander, a joint venture between Orsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, has signed an exclusivity agreement as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
The 100MW Salamander floating offshore wind project, located 35km off Peterhead, is designed to provide Scotland and its supply chain with an early opportunity to deliver floating offshore wind ahead of the larger-scale ScotWind buildout.
With the exclusivity agreement in place, the project will start offshore wind development work while Marine Scotland’s planning process for the INTOG Sectoral Marine Plan (INTOG SMP) is completed.
Salamander said it will demonstrate a package of innovative technologies at commercial scale, readying them for roll out in utility-scale projects such as the ScotWind leases.
These technologies will be critical to ensuring floating offshore wind energy is deliverable, affordable for consumers and contributes value to local industry and business, it added.
The INTOG round was split into two pots – one for smaller scale innovation projects of 100MW or less and one for larger projects linked to oil and gas infrastructure. Salamander was successful in the innovation route.
A series of public consultations are set to be held by the Salamander floating offshore wind project next month.