Shell bids for Scottish floating offshore wind – updated

Iberdrola subsidiary ScottishPower and Shell have entered multiple bids for sites capable of hosting floating offshore wind farms off Scotland.

The partners entered Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing round, which closes for submissions today (16 July).

Seabed landlord the Crown Estate Scotland believes leases could be awarded for sites capable of supporting up to 10GW of offshore wind capacity.

ScottishPower and Shell explained that floating offshore wind’s suitability for deeper water zones where fixed-bottom foundations are not feasible makes it “ideal” for Scottish waters

The partners have a combined 70 years’ experience offshore in Scotland and 50 years’ experience offshore in the North Sea, they added. They have a combined portfolio of more than 2GW operational offshore wind and have over 11GW of offshore wind in development, plus an additional 700MW-plus of floating offshore wind in various stages of development.

Rival bids

SSE Renewables, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation have also submitted joint bids in the ScotWind tender.

SSE is also helping to develop the 1075MW Seagreen 1 Seagreen 1 (1075MW) OffshoreFirth of Forth, UK, Europe Click to see full details offshore wind farm in the Firth of Forth, off the east coast of Scotland.

It also previously developed the 588MW Beatrice Beatrice (588MW) OffshoreOuter Moray Firth, Scotland, UK, Europe Click to see full details project off Scotland alongside CIP, and has outlined plans for a 100MW floating offshore wind farm off Scotland.

CIP is currently helping to develop more than 11GW of offshore wind capacity off Taiwan, the US, Vietnam, Canada and Australia, according to Windpower Intelligence, the research and data division of Windpower Monthly.

Meanwhile, Marubeni holds a stake in the 173MW Gunfleet Sands 1 and 2 Gunfleet Sands 1 and 2 (173MW) Offshoreoff Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, UK, Europe Click to see full details project off the east coast of England and is helping to develop two projects with a combined capacity of 143MW off its home market of Japan.

Meanwhile, RWE has also confirmed it made a separate bid in the tender.

The German company traded assets with E.on in 2019, which helped to develop Scotland’s first offshore wind farm, the 180MW Robin Rigg Robin Rigg (180MW) OffshoreSolway Firth, Galloway, Southern Scotland, UK, Europe Click to see full details project.

Through earlier UK offshore wind developments, RWE has enabled new port infrastructure to be built and supported job creation. If successful, RWE will continue this activity in Scotland, it added.

These groups face tough competition in the ScotWind tender.

Trios of TotalEnergies, the Green Investment Group and the Renewable Infrastructure Development Group and Ørsted, Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy, pairings of Vattenfall and Fred Olsen Renewables, BP and German utility EnBW and Simply Blue Energy and Subsea 7, Ideol and Aker Solutions, as well as Eni and Red Rock Power had also all announced their intention to bid.

The Crown Estate Scotland is expected to announce the results of this round of ScotWind leasing in early 2022.