Offshore wind experts from across Europe will descend on Glasgow tomorrow afternoon to debate the next stages of Scotland’s offshore wind sector.
Organisers Scottish Renewables have invited developers, suppliers and builders of offshore wind farms to discuss the future of the industry.
Big hitters such as Ørsted, Vattenfall and Statoil AS will debate alongside the developers of some of the most exciting wind farm projects in the country.
Speaking ahead of the conference Fabrice Leveque, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: “2018 looks set to be the year Scotland really begins to make its mark in offshore wind. Our waters are already home to the world’s first floating offshore wind farm, Hywind, with others waiting in the wings.
“Projects like Beatrice, in the Moray Firth, are beginning to deploy more conventional, bottom-fixed turbines off Scotland, too.
“In total more than 2GW of offshore wind – enough to power more than 1.6 million homes – has UK Government contracts to sell the power it will produce.
“That means huge opportunity for the hundreds of supply chain companies which feed their offshore expertise into these projects.
“And it means huge opportunity for ports and communities along our east coast, with Wick, for example, already benefitting from a £10 million investment as part of its role as the operations and maintenance base for the £2.6 billion Beatrice project.”
As the windiest country in Europe, Scottish wind farm developers are excited about the full potential that the country possesses.
The offshore wind conference in Glasgow is an opportunity for those in the industry to meet and share good practice.
The conference will feature companies from Denmark, Norway and Belgium, while delegates from leading offshore wind businesses like James Fisher Marine Services, Ecosse Subsea Systems and Babcock International Group will also be in attendance.
Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Government minister for business, innovation and energy, said: “The Scottish Government recognises the enormous potential benefits of offshore wind energy in Scotland, and the importance of working with the industry at annual events like these to discuss how we can collectively continue to reduce the cost of this technology, stimulate the development of further projects and to increase the Scottish content of projects to boost the economic impact for Scotland.
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