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Testing ScotWind all systems go as full lease awards confirmed

Published: 23/08/2024

Today Crown Estate Scotland confirmed that all bidders offered seabed leases on 17 January 2022 had accepted contractual terms offered and signed up to take on leasing rights and associated responsibility.

The developers on each of these 17 projects will now commence development work in advance of submitting planning and marine licence applications to the Scottish Government. Many of these projects have already started wider engagement including with the Scottish supply chain and, should they all successfully gain planning approval, it would lead to over 25GW of new offshore wind capacity being delivered in Scotland.  

The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) has invited new entrants to join ongoing work to establish a collaborative framework to help maximise opportunities for Scotland’s supply chain.  

SOWEC industry co-chair Brian McFarlane said: “It is great to get confirmation that all developers wish to take on a lease and proceed with delivery of what is the world’s biggest leasing round, and to join SOWEC’s efforts to look at how our industry can collaborate together to improve opportunity for Scotland’s supply chain.”

  • The formal announcement of confirmation of the ScotWind leasing round can be found here.
  • The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) is a partnership between the Scottish public sector and the offshore wind industry.  Co-chaired by Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise, and Brian McFarlane of SSE
  • SOWEC’s mission is to coordinate and grow the sector, ensuring the Scottish offshore wind industry is more sustainable, competitive, and commercially-attractive, both domestically and in the global offshore wind market.
  • The Strategic Investment Assessment, which set out a series of recommendations to SOWEC on supporting Scottish supply chain growth, can be downloaded from the related document section below.
  • The Collaborative Framework Principles can also be downloaded from the related documents link below. SOWEC is now working with ScotWind winners and other Scottish developers to put in place a framework with Scottish ports, with an initial focus on supply of floating offshore wind platforms.