Aker Offshore Wind and Ocean Winds have promised a £235 million early investment package to support Scotland’s renewable energy supply chain, as part of their joint bids for the ScotWind offshore leasing round.
The duo said the investment would help build supply chain capability “many years ahead” of the development of new floating offshore wind projects in Scottish waters, and lead to “thousands of new jobs”.
By creating “first mover advantage”, Aker Offshore Wind said Scotland could become one of the first countries in the world to introduce floating wind at an industrial scale.
The two committed to early investment packages of £235m for every successful bid, which they said would support a “just transition” from other industries such as oil and gas by generating thousands of new jobs.
Through direct work and supply chain opportunities, each proposal is estimated to generate more than 5,000 jobs and 200 apprenticeships in Scotland across all project stages, the company added.
As part of the consortium, Aker said it had submitted proposals for up to three sites in the Outer Moray Firth with the possibility of generating a combined 6GW of wind energy in total, with associated total spend of up to £15bn for all three sites.
It also promised “extensive investment” in the country’s ports and harbours, as well as new subsea technology, building on the capabilities of the existing Scottish supply chain.
The group also committed to 60% local supply chain content from the UK, of which a minimum of 40% would come from Scotland.
More than 30 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) are now in place across the supply chain in support of the bids and the early action needed.
The investment would also include feasibility, benchmark, and implementation studies with selected fabricators seeking to establish or upgrade facilities in Scotland, with a view to establishing “globally-competitive” facilities for the fabrication and assembly of floating platforms.
Aker said an immersive virtual reality design for a fabrication yard has already been developed in conjunction with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland at the University of Strathclyde.
“We know early investment is needed if we want Scottish capability to be built ahead of the project execution phase when globally competitive tenders are sought,” said Aker Offshore Wind UK managing director Sian Lloyd-Rees.
“If we focus on what our supply chain needs and provide it now, we can capture first mover advantage for our supply chain in a number of different technologies and solutions. That’s why we are committed to an enabling investment fund of £235million.”
Aker and Ocean Winds are already partnering on projects in the USA and Korea.
Ocean Winds, itself a 50-50 joint venture by EDP Renewables (EDPR) and ENGIE, of Spain and France respectively, already has an established footprint in Scotland. The company, which has a base in Edinburgh, is also behind the Moray East offshore wind farm currently under construction off the Aberdeenshire coast.
Aker said it planned to use existing ‘WindFloat’ technology, developed by Principle Power Inc (PPI), as part of its bid, with the design having already been in operation for over 10 years with local fabrication as part of its delivery.
