ScottishPower and Shell believe they have three key factors in their favor after filing a joint bid for floating offshore wind farms as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind Leasing, which closed bids today.

Floating offshore wind is suitable for areas of deeper water, where fixed foundations are not feasible, making it ideal for Scottish waters – and another geographical advantage is that Scotland is “the windiest country. Europe, â€said Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower.

The second factor is that Shell’s “collective knowledge, experience and expertise†means that we are uniquely positioned to lead the way in the development of large-scale offshore floating wind farms.

Third, the time has come with the hosting of the UN Climate Change Summit COP26 in Glasgow in November, providing ScotWind with a platform to build a new green and clean industry.

David Bunch, President of Shell UK Country, said, with ScottishPower, that he is fully committed to working with Scottish communities and businesses to help develop supply chains and expertise that could make Scotland ” a world leader “in floating wind power. “At Shell, we continue to increase our ability to generate, market and deliver cleaner energy to our customers and play our part in bringing the UK to zero,” he said.

ScotWind Leasing is the first round of seabed leasing for offshore wind in Scottish waters for over a decade and will grant property rights for the development of new large-scale offshore wind projects, including floating wind. for the first time. Crown Estate Scotland is expected to announce the results of this round of ScotWind Leasing in early 2022. It is estimated that 10 new sites will ultimately be chosen for wind farm development.

About the partnership

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) and Shell have signed a joint bidding agreement for the ScotWind leasing cycle. The partners have 70 years of combined experience off the coast of Scotland, with over 50 years of experience off the North Sea. In addition, the partners have over 15 years of combined experience in offshore floating wind. The combined ScottishPower Renewables / Iberdrola and Shell portfolio includes over 2 GW of operational offshore wind, over 11 GW of offshore wind under development and more than 700 MW of floating wind turbines in various stages of development. SPR & Shell support the Paris Agreement targets and Scotland’s and UK’s ambitious goals of net zero emissions by 2045 and 2050 respectively.

ScottishPower Renewables

ScottishPower Renewables is part of Iberdrola, a global energy leader, the largest producer of wind energy. Responsible for advancing Iberdrola’s renewable energy projects in the UK, ScottishPower Renewables also manages the development, construction and operation of offshore wind farms worldwide and currently has over 40 operational wind farm sites. generating more than 2.5 GW of renewable energy.

This includes the UK’s largest onshore wind farm, Whitelee – which became operational in 2009 – and the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm. EA ONE was completed during lockdown 2020 and is one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, with the capacity to produce enough clean energy to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes each year.

EA ONE provided a £ 30million investment in operation, maintenance and new or improved port facilities in the east of England and supported nearly 3,500 jobs at the height of construction as well as 100 long-term skilled jobs in its operating and maintenance base over its lifetime. of the project. More than half of the project’s supply chain has been supplied by the UK market, with over £ 75million committed from local suppliers. A dedicated skills awareness program mobilized over 4,200 young people in East Anglia.

ScottishPower is a lead partner of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. It is developing an energy model that will play an important role in achieving the global climate change goals of the UK and is investing a total of £ 10 billion for clean power generation and the grid infrastructure needed to help the UK decarbonize and achieve net zero emissions.

Shell has a long history in Scotland and today employs around 1,350 people in North East Scotland (as of January 2021). In 2018, Shell’s business in Scotland created 11,700 full-time equivalent jobs and generated £ 775 million in gross added value to the Scottish economy. Today, its business is evolving and working to offer its customers more low-carbon products, from renewable electricity to hydrogen.

Equinor expands interests in UK

Equinor has a vast experience with wind power in the UK, having previously built and commissioned Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon and the 30MW Hywind Scotland – as good as Dogger Bank.

The first two phases, Dogger Bank A and B, are a joint venture between Equinor (40%), SSE Renewables (40%) and Eni (20%). The third phase, Dogger Bank C, is being developed on a different timescale and is owned 50-50 by Equinor and SSE Renewables.

The three phases of the Dogger Bank wind farm will have a combined installed generation capacity of 3.6 GW, sufficient to power six million homes in the UK. When completed in 2026, Equinor claims it will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

Offshore wind is gaining momentum

The offshore floating wind industry has come a long way in just a few short years, providing new float designs, scale demonstrators, pre-commercial projects and new players, according to a forecast report from Quest Floating Wind Energy. Floating wind is a young industry with 15 units currently online, representing nine projects and a decade of work.

He identified projects representing more than 26.2 GW of floating wind power that are expected to be commissioned worldwide by 2035, a number that will increase exponentially following the addition of new sanctioned projects and their termination. accelerated marketing.