Following Crown Estate Scotland’s recent proposals to lease seabed for new offshore wind projects that would be built in the Scottish waters from the late 2020s, the UK offshore wind industry has shown its support emphasizing the positive impact the new sites would have on the country.
According to Scottish Renewables, additional offshore wind sites would “enable Scotland’s burgeoning offshore wind supply chain to gear up and grow, delivering jobs and investment” both on the coasts, as well as across the country.
The new leasing round would allow Scotland’s businesses to share opportunities in the supply chain brought by the new developments and would bring the country further economic growth, Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Chief Executive, Andrew Jamieson, stated.
“Scotland is already a world-leader in renewable energy and continuing to develop our offshore wind will bring billions of pounds of new investment into the Scottish economy and create thousands of skilled jobs,” RenewableUK’s Executive Director, Emma Pinchbeck , said.
Crown Estate Scotland is seeking input for its draft leasing process, which was outlined in a discussion document , in order to help prepare the final approach due to be launched late this year or in early 2019.
Marine Scotland is in charge of identifying potential offshore wind areas and is expected to release a new Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind for Scottish Waters.
To remind, Scotland is home to two operational offshore wind projects – Hywind Scotland , the world’s first floating wind farm, and Robin Rigg , which was commissioned in 2010. The country will soon see two more projects, including the Beatrice offshore wind farm and the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) .