United Kingdom – Crown Estate Scotland (CES) has selected the consortium of Ørsted, Falck Renewables, and BlueFloat Energy to enter into an Option Agreement for a new floating offshore wind site off Scotland’s north-east coast.
Leases for up to 1GW of capacity have been awarded through CES’s ScotWind offshore wind leasing round. Ørsted’s first large-scale floating wind development project will be located off Caithness, approximately 50 kilometres east of Wick.
Preparatory work started
Residents of Scotland and Scottish communities will be able to share the financial benefits of the floating wind farms the consortium builds in the future after working with community ownership experts Energy4All on a new framework. For the floating wind farm, the consortium will collaborate with the Energy Skills Partnership Scotland (ESP) to help train up a skilled workforce in time for construction to start.
Scottish marine scientists (SAMS) will also conduct research to examine the potential environmental impacts of floating wind developments. Proposals are being discussed to examine how fishing interests and offshore wind can work together, and to study interactions between floating offshore wind farms as well as fish, marine mammals, and birds.
