The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) has set out its Strategic Investment Model as the next step in work to bring wider collaboration within the industry.
The work, launched at today’s Offshore Wind Supply Chain Summit, is being led by its developer members to build on the Collaborative Framework principles agreed in April 2022.
As part of delivery of individual ScotWind projects, developers will need to make bilateral investments to support their own projects.
However, there are going to be opportunities for shared investment that better support growth in port and supply chain capacity and capability, SOWEC said.
Offshore wind industry developers are clear that by working together and alongside Government, the need to ensure investments are made ahead of time is prioritised.
This both de-risks the successful delivery of ScotWind and increases opportunities for the supply chain, it explained.
Work on the Strategic Investment Model is being led by SOWEC’s Collaborative Framework Working Group, which is responsible for delivery of the industry’s Collaborative Framework set out in the 2021 Strategic Investment Assessment report delivered by Professor Sir Jim McDonald.
The members of this group will now commence a co-design process to develop a model in line with an agreed set of principles.
SOWEC is aiming to have completed work on the Strategic Investment Model in Q1 2023, and expects to give an update to delegates on progress at the October Floating Offshore Wind conference in Aberdeen being organised by RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables.
Brian McFarlane, industry co-chair of SOWEC said: “ScotWind is a once in a generation opportunity for Scotland, but to make the most of that opportunity we need to ensure Scotland has a world-class supply chain.
“That means working differently together to deliver transformative outcomes.
“The Strategic Investment Model shows the fresh thinking and commitments being brought to the table by the Scottish Government and industry.
“SOWEC is all about effective partnerships – by working together we can find better ways to invest in the Scottish supply chain to make sure it is ready for ScotWind and the new INTOG leasing round.
“We’re really excited by this approach, and the desire we see across government and industry to make this work.
“Today’s announcement of an additional 2.8GW of ScotWind capacity, with three sites selected for development within the NE1 zone near Shetland, increases the pipeline and the scale of opportunity.
“SOWEC is looking forward to working with these projects and involving them in our work.”