SSE Renewables is hoping to publish details of a “significant inward investment” in Scotland in the near future.
Jim Smith, managing director at the green energy developer, teased the upcoming announcement, expected to be made in the next couple of months, during the opening session of Scottish Renewables’ Offshore Wind Conference 2021 on Wednesday.
He said SSE Renewables’ colossal Dogger Bank offshore wind farm project would act as a “catalyst” for the investment.
The 3.6 gigawatt (GW) development is on course to be the world’s largest offshore wind development when it becomes operational.
Dogger Bank is being built in three stages, the first two of which have already reached financial close, in the central to southern North Sea, between 77 and 180 miles off the Yorkshire coast.
GE Renewable Energy, which will supply its Haliade-X offshore wind turbines for the project, previously announced plans to open a “world-class” blade manufacturing facility on Teesside to support the development.
The facility is expected to create up to 750 direct and as many 1,500 indirect jobs in the region.
Mr Smith said: “Hopefully, in the next couple of months we can make another announcement of further significant inward investment, this time in Scotland.
“Again, we’ll use Dogger Bank as the catalyst to drive that investment; it’ll be the seed project that will get it up and running, along with a little help from ourselves at SSE Renewables. We’ll have more on that in the next couple of months.”
The first two phases of Dogger Bank are being developed as joint ventures between SSE Renewables (40%), Equinor (40%) and Eni (20%).
The final section is an equal split between Equinor and SSE Renewables.
SSE Renewables is lead operator for the development and construction of Dogger Bank, while Equinor will be lead operator for the duration of the operational phase.
Earlier this year, Aberdeen’s North Star bagging a £270 million contract to supply three “state-of-the-art” service operation vessels (SOVs) for use on Dogger Bank.
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