Ørsted, Simply Blue Group, Subsea7 win Scottish floating offshore wind lease

(WO) — Salamander, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, has been offered an exclusivity agreement as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.

The 100 MW Salamander floating offshore wind project, located 35km off Peterhead, is designed to provide Scotland and its supply chain with an early opportunity to deliver floating offshore wind ahead of the larger-scale ScotWind buildout.

With gigawatts of floating wind buildout expected in Scotland and the UK over the next decade, Salamander will be a valuable stepping-stone to ensure local supply chains are ready and able to take full advantage of this opportunity. Salamander will demonstrate a package of innovative technologies at commercial scale, readying them for roll out in utility-scale projects such as the ScotWind leases.

These technologies will be critical to ensuring floating offshore wind energy is deliverable, affordable for consumers and contributes value to local industry and business.

The INTOG round was split into two pots – one for smaller scale innovation projects of 100 MW or less and one for larger projects linked to oil and gas infrastructure. Salamander was successful in the innovation route.

Huw Bell, Salamander Project Director, said, “We expect our approach to support the floating wind industry in the same way that fixed offshore wind successfully reduced costs over the last ten years. De-risking floating wind technologies for future commercial projects will allow Scotland to maximize the financial benefit of its strong offshore wind resource and generate long-term jobs for local communities.”

Salamander is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment (EIA). The project has submitted its EIA Scoping Report to Marine Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council, who have now passed it to statutory and non-statutory consultees for their review and responses to the proposed project and scope of the EIA.

The project has a grid connection agreement with the National Grid to enable the project to be delivered by 2030 and contribute to the UK’s 5GW floating wind target.

Gabriel Davies, Head of Floating Wind at Ørsted, said, “Salamander is a stepping-stone project designed to stimulate and support innovative, renewable supply chains in Scotland, maximizing opportunities to support renewables around the world. With floating wind on the cusp of industrialization, Salamander will play a crucial role in bringing down costs and accelerating the technology’s full-scale commercial deployment.”

Duncan Clark, Head of Ørsted UK and Ireland, said, "This award comes a year after we successfully secured the 1 GW Stromar floating lease in the Scotwind lease round and marks another major milestone in pursuit of our global floating wind strategy. Alongside our Stromar project, the pair form a complementary floating offshore development portfolio in Scotland.”