RWE Highlights Floating Wind as It Files ScotWind Bid(s)

RWE has announced its participation in the ScotWind seabed leasing round in Scotland. While the company did not specify the technology it plans to use, it did highlight its involvement in new floating wind projects worldwide in relation to the new projects to be built off the Scottish coasts.

“As part of its natural evolution, RWE is rapidly developing its Floating Wind capabilities. With partners, it is undertaking pioneering work through three floating demonstration projects, in the US, Spain and Norway, which will ensure the business is very well placed to deliver new projects in deeper waters off the Scottish coast, secured as part of the leasing round”, RWE stated on 16 July, the day Crown Estate Scotland closed the application period for ScotWind leasing.

The company, which is behind Scotland’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm – the 174 MW Robin Rigg – also said that the anticipated investment from successful bids in Scotland would re-energise the supply chain.

“Our company is a highly experienced, innovative and globally-recognised player in the offshore wind sector, and anticipates that success in ScotWind would unlock significant opportunities to re-energise the local supply chain, while helping create important, high quality, long term employment“, said Tom Glover, RWE UK Country Chair.

RWE joins several other major offshore wind players and oil & gas giants now diversifying into offshore wind in bidding to erect wind turbines in Scottish waters, most of which have set their sights on installing floating wind technology.

On 16 July, Shell and ScottishPower Renewables, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iberdrola, said that they had placed bids to develop the world’s first large-scale floating offshore wind farms in the north-east of Scotland.

SSE Renewables, in a consortium with Marubeni and Copenhangen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), has also put a spotlight on floating wind as it confirmed the consortium is bidding into the ScotWind auction on 16 July, after announcing the plan to bid in November last year.

Along with RWE, Shell and ScottishPower, and SSE-Marubeni-CIP consortium, the ScotWind leasing round attracted bids from Ørsted, Falck Renewables, and BlueFloat Energy; bp and EnBW; Vattenfall and Fred. Olsen Renewables; TotalEnergies; Eni and Red Rock Power; Ocean Winds and Aker Offshore Wind; Macquarie and RIDG; and others.

The winners of the seabed leasing are expected to be announced early next year.