A consortium of Ørsted, Falck Renewables, and BlueFloat Energy has been chosen by Crown Estate Scotland to engage in an option agreement for a new floating offshore wind project off Scotland’s north-east coast. This floating wind site with a capacity of up to 1 GW was one of the many awarded as part of the Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind offshore wind leasing round. The project will be situated 50 kilometres east of Wick, off the coast of Caithness, and will be Ørsted’s first large-scale floating offshore wind development project anywhere in the world. This project will help increase the company’s footprint in Scotland from onshore to offshore wind.
The consortium will partner with Energy Skills Partnership Scotland to help train a competent workforce in time for construction to commence as part of the preparatory work to create the floating offshore wind farm. The collaboration has already begun working on a new framework with community ownership experts Energy4All that will allow Scottish residents and communities to experience the financial benefits of the floating offshore wind farms the consortium creates in the future.
In December 2021, Johnson & Johnson signed two power purchase agreements with Ørsted to procure power from Sparta Solar in Texas and Kilgarvan Wind Farm in County Kerry and Booltiagh Wind Farm 1 in County Clare, both in Ireland’s south and west. Sparta Solar’s PPA contains a 55 MW contract capacity from the 250 MW Sparta Solar project in southern Texas. Sparta Solar is a component of Helena Energy Center, a 518 MW hybrid wind and solar project.
REGlobal’s Views: This latest selection of Ørsted and partners in the ScotWind leasing round will help the companies to expand their presence in the highly attractive Scottish wind power market, which boasts of excellent offshore wind resources.
