Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced 24 new signatories of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) Collaborative Framework Charter with the goal to help build a pipeline of supply chain work in the country.
The 24 new signatories include BayWa r.e., BlueFloat Energy, BP, BW Ideol, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIG), EDF Renewables, Fred. Olsen Renewables, Falck, Elicio, Corio Generation, EnBW, Magnora Offshore Wind, Marubeni, Northland, Ocean Winds, Ørsted, Red Rock Power, RIDG, ScottishPower Renewables, Shell, SSE Renewables, Thistle Wind Partners, TotalEnergies, and Vattenfall.
The companies, representing almost 25 GW of ScotWind projects with an estimated value of GBP 1.5 billion (EUR 1.75 billion) per GW, have agreed to work together in the development and delivery of this Collaborative Framework.
These and other signatories are also responsible for a further 6.7 GW of other Scottish projects either in construction or under development.
The announcement was made as part of the First Minister’s speech at the All Energy Conference and Exhibition in Glasgow.
To capitalise on the opportunity of ScotWind, investment is needed in Scottish ports , according to Sturgeon.
The Strategic Investment Assessment (SIA) study , published in 2021 and led by Professor Sir Jim McDonald, set out a series of recommendations for how Government and industry needed to work together to secure this investment.
The recommendations outlined in the study have been accepted by SOWEC, and include a recommendation that developers work together through a Collaborative Framework to engage Scottish ports, with an initial focus being fabrication and manufacture for floating platforms and foundations.
The developers signing up to this Charter are expected to join forces to review the pipeline of Scottish offshore wind projects.
“The North Sea is an energy asset that will be the backbone of the UK’s energy system as we transition and build renewable energy at scale. Now we need to accelerate our collaboration to unleash ScotWind’s full potential: 25 GW of clean energy. That means companies like Shell and our partner ScottishPower, as well as supply chain and our workforces, coming together to deliver net zero in the UK, while stimulating economic growth and jobs.” said Simon Roddy , SVP Upstream Shell UK and Board member for Shell’s ScotWind Joint Ventures