European players Deme Group, Aspiravi and Qair have formed the “Thistle Wind Partners” JV for a joint ScotWind bid.
The trio said the submission represents a “long-term commitment” to the Scottish renewable energy market with “maximum” local supply chain opportunities.
DEME Concessions, a subsidiary of the Belgium-headquartered marine group, will bring experience in offshore wind, green hydrogen and port development.
Aspiravi, also based in Belgium, develops and operates renewable energy projects with over 1.5GW of installed capacity.
Qair Marine will being its experience in floating offshore wind to bear, having developed EolMed in the French Mediterranean and carried out operations for Floatgen, the first floating offshore wind turbine in France.
The DEME team said it is “fully committed to working with Scottish communities and businesses to help develop supply chains and expertise”, and will be actively engaging on this front in the coming months.
It added that the group will actively explore the role of Green Hydrogen in their projects to help the country achieve net zero by 2045.
Managing director of DEME Concessions, Alain Bernard, said: “As a consortium consisting of partners who have organically grown through bespoke project development, we pledge our project solutions will be tailored to the requirements of the Scottish stakeholders and include a maximum of local supply chain capabilities.”
Louis Blanchard, president of Qair, said the firm’s Scottish branch will “dedicate itself to grow in line with the market potential of the region”, while Aspiravi managing director Rik Van de Walle added that the Thistle Wind Partnership is a “reliable party that can play an important role in the energy transition in Scotland”.
Local content is expected to be a big focus for Crown Estate Scotland in deciding awards for the hotly-contested offshore wind leasing round.
More than 70 bids were made, including big oil firms such as BP, Shell, TotalEnergies, Equinor and Eni, along with established renewables players like SSE and Scottish Power.
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