ScottishPower, Shell bid to build large floating wind farms in Scottish waters

ScottishPower and Shell have jointly bid to develop the world's first large-scale floating offshore wind farms in the northeast of Scotland, the companies said July 16.

The "multiple proposals" are part of Crown Estate Scotland's ScotWind Leasing round, the application window for which has just closed. In all, Scotland is seeking to award leases for up to 10 GW of offshore wind capacity (including floating wind) to be built over the next decade.

"Scotland is the windiest country in Europe and has the biggest and most experienced offshore sector," ScottishPower CEO Keith Anderson said. ScottishPower is owned by Spanish utility Iberdrola.

Floating offshore wind is suitable for use in deeper water zones where fixed foundations are not feasible, making it ideal for Scottish waters, the companies said. They did not give capacity details of their proposed projects.

Crown Estate Scotland is expected to announce the results of the ScotWind Leasing round in early 2022.

Both Shell and ScottishPower Renewables are members of the Carbon Trust's Floating Wind Joint Industry Project.

The project aims to accelerate development of floating wind technology through cost reduction and de-risking of technology components.

Global floating wind capacity is expected to grow from 74 MW now to 126 MW by the end of 2021 on completion of the 50-MW Kincardine wind farm in Scotland, being developed by Pilot Offshore Renewables.

On July 13, the Carbon Trust issued a report detailing "significant technical challenges" facing floating offshore wind.

These included carrying out heavy lift maintenance, with conventional jack-up vessels not a viable option.

"On top of this, the relative motion of the turbine versus a floating maintenance vessel is a key risk that needs to be mitigated," the report said.

Other challenges included the need for better solutions to safely disconnect and store all the power cable connections when bringing a floating turbine back to port, and cost-efficient mooring of turbines in both very deep and very shallow waters.