Odfjell Oceanwind (OOW) has acquired Ørsted`s 80 per cent share in the Salamander floating wind project in Scotland. The 100 MW demonstration floating wind farm, which recently received consent from the Scottish government, will now be owned by Odfjell Oceanwind, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7.
Salamander has adopted Odfjell Oceanwind’s Deepsea Star semi-submersible steel foundation for the project, the new majority owner said on 26 August.
Ørsted acquired the majority stake in the Salamander project in April 2022, before the 100 MW floating wind demo was entered into Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round later that year.
In 2023, the 100 MW Salamander floating wind farm was one of the 13 projects selected in the INTOG leasing round, and the developers of the selected innovation projects signed exclusivity agreements with Crown Estate Scotland in May 2023.
In March this year, Salamander secured onshore consent from the Scottish government, and this July, the project received Section 36 consent and associated Marine Licences, and became the first of the innovation (IN) projects from the INTOG leasing round to reach this stage.
The Salamander joint venture said in July that, with the consents in place, the focus was now on working with Crown Estate Scotland to secure an option agreement and on preparing to secure a Contract for Difference (CfD).
“The Salamander project share acquisition is a key part of our ambition to make floating wind relevant and commercial through the gradual scale-up in project and wind turbine sizes before reaching utility scale. It follows as a natural stepping stone from our recent announcement of the ScaleWind project where we secured a slot with a 24 MW grid connection at the Marine Energy Test Centre, Norway with the ambition of installing one full-scale floating offshore wind turbine in 2028”, said Per Lund , CEO of Odfjell Oceanwind (OOW).
“Working closely with our Salamander partners, we intend to demonstrate to key stakeholders that floating technology and the supply chain are ready to deliver cost competitive projects at scale.”