This week, the first Scottish seabed auction in a decade saw the award of 7,000km2 of seabed to companies seeking to develop offshore wind farms. The combined generating capacity is expected to be in the region of 25GW. As it stands Scotland currently has only 1.9GW of installed offshore wind with 8.4GW in development.
This is a massive ramping up of scale and ambition in Scotland, further adding to the evidence that offshore renewables are firmly capturing the momentum of COP26 across the UK. Of the 25GW capacity, around 14GW are deep water sites for floating wind farms. Adding to this The Crown Estate’s target of 4GW of installed capacity of floating wind in the Celtic Sea by the early 2030s, this now establishes the UK as the largest floating offshore wind market in the world.
The UK has long been a global leader in offshore renewable energy and these latest announcements cement that position. The coming decades will be a key period of collaborative learning and growing supply chain opportunities as floating wind becomes more and more established. This leasing round stands testament to what can be achieved with support and pressure from industry.