Last year there were no successful bids for offshore wind projects under the government’s Allocation Round (AR) scheme in what was largely seen to be wake-up call for the sector, but this year was a different story.
Offshore and floating wind projects winning backing in the latest funding round for renewable energy projects are expected to deliver a combined 3.3GW of offshore wind energy including 400 MW of floating wind.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband lambasted the previous AR5 Contracts for Difference (CfD) results as being “disastrous” while celebrating the newly instated Labour government’s first allocation round as “record-setting”.
Energy Voice looked through the winning projects and pulled together everything you need to know about them
The only floating wind winner, Green Volt
Kicking off with the only winner in the floating wind pot, Vårgrønn and Flotation Energy’s joint venture project Green Volt saw success in its bid.
This project is set to double the size of Europe’s total currently installed floating offshore wind capacity when it comes online in 2029.
The 400MW floating wind project will be stationed off Aberdeenshire’s east coast near Peterhead and will have up to 35 turbines at a power of 560 MW.
Stephen Bull, chief executive of Vårgrønn, said: “Green Volt will stimulate investment in new port infrastructure, helping accelerate the development of more floating windfarms. We look forward to expanding our dialogue with the supply industry.”
First awarded under Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, Green Volt received approval in April.
© Supplied by StatkraftNorth-east Scotland energy tycoon Sir Ian Wood has previously said that the project will bring a “massive boost” to the local economy.
Green Volt agreed to a strike price of £139.93 per MWh and secured 400MW in the latest allocation round.
Nicol Stephen, one-time deputy first minister of Scotland and chief executive of Aberdeen’s Flotation Energy, added: “This funding will kickstart the next phase of Europe’s largest floating wind project 80 km off the coast of Northeast Scotland. Green Volt is a huge £2.5 billion project.
“It will create over 2,800 jobs during construction. Once operational, the floating offshore windfarm will supply clean power to the UK grid, while also supplying renewable electricity to nearby oil and gas platforms.”
Ørsted wins big with Hornsea
Ørsted secured four successful bids across “offshore wind” and “offshore wind permitted reduction” for the next phases of its massive Hornsea project.
Rasmus Errboe, deputy CEO and chief commercial officer at Ørsted, said the result was “an important milestone for two of the world’s largest offshore wind farms.”
The firm had successful bids across its 2.9GW Hornsea Three and 2.6GW Hornsea Four schemes. The former had three 360MW successful bids for a strike price of £54.23 per MWh.
Four had one successful bid of 2400.00MW for £58.87 MWh, this was the only Ørsted win in the “offshore wind” technology type, compared to the “offshore wind permitted reduction” category that Hornsea Three’s bids fell under.
© Supplied by OrstedThose granted funding under “offshore wind permitted reduction” are projects which have already received funding under previous CfD rounds and have withdrawn up to a quarter of their capacity to submit a separate bid.
Errboe added: “We look forward to delivering these landmark projects, which will supply renewable power at large scale to UK consumers and businesses and help the UK government achieve its target of quadrupling offshore wind capacity to 60 GW by 2030.”
Late last year Ørsted received the green light to develop its proposed 2.6GW Hornsea Four project off the Yorkshire coast.
Up to 180 turbines will be placed across an area of up to 190 square miles, sitting around 40 miles off the Yorkshire coast at their nearest point.
The 2.6GW project is the second-largest wind scheme to be given government consent, after the 2.8GW Hornsea Three project.
Duncan Clark, senior vice president and head of UK & Ireland at Ørsted, commented: “The important takeaway from this allocation round is that progress is being made, and it’s crucial that this momentum continues to grow.
“The Government has shown it takes renewable energy seriously, and we’re confident it will continue working with the sector to increase the volume of projects deployed in the UK.
“Offshore wind is key to the nation’s energy security and remains one of the most attractive forms of energy generation, offering low-cost, highly scalable electricity to UK bill payers.”
Inch Cape win marks ‘important milestone’
ESB and Red Rock’s 1.1 GW Inch Cape was one of the two Scottish winners in the “offshore wind permitted reduction” category of AR6.
Project director John Hill said: “The award of the CfD is an important milestone for the project as we continue to work closely with our key suppliers and stakeholders towards achieving financial close later this year.”
The team behind the project said the AR6 award of 266MW will top-up the project’s previous CfD award from AR4.
Inch Cape Offshore Wind Limited is a 50/50 equal joint venture between ESB and Red Rock Renewables and will account for £3 billion of investment in the UK’s energy infrastructure.
© Supplied by Inch Cape Offshore WThe team behind the project says that it will “create thousands of jobs during construction.”
The award in the latest allocation round was for Inch Cape A and B and was agreed upon for a strike price of £108.46 per MWh.
The developers behind the project off the Angus coast called out for experts to support a range of key planning and procedures in March.
Inch Cape put up tenders for five work scopes, seeking consultants to assist with various portions of its plans, from procurement assistance to explosive ordnance advice.
A total of 72 turbines are earmarked for the 150 square kilometre site, each standing up to 274m tall.
East Anglia calls for action to ‘replicate offshore wind’s success’
ScottishPower’s East Anglia Three also landed a successful bid of 158.90MW for a strike price of £54.23MWh.
In July the first of four onshore transformers for the project arrived at ScottishPower Iberdrola Group’s onshore converter station site in Suffolk.
In March 2024, Iberdrola said it had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Amazon for 159MW of renewable electricity from East Anglia Three, equivalent to 700GWh per year of electricity.
According to the Government’s announcement of winners, East Anglia Three will be delivered in “2027/28”.
The first monopile for the project was completed by Navantia Seanergies and Windar Renovables in June.
The 2.9GW East Anglia Three complex is one of three schemes in the East Anglia Hub, which has an estimated worth of £6.5 billion.
This will involve 95 offshore turbines, and an estimated creation of 2,300 jobs during the construction period.
The project is located 42 miles off the east Suffolk coast and originally got the green light from the government in 2017.
East Anglia Two also won under the “offshore wind” category, agreeing to 963.07MW for a strike price of £58.87 per MWh. This project will consist of 75 turbines.
© Supplied by IberdrolaKeith Anderson, ScottishPower CEO said: “Offshore wind is back on track after last year’s misstep which is great news for consumers. The only solution to weaning the UK off volatile fossil fuels which are the root cause of increasing bills is more clean, green energy.
“This auction’s success shows this tried and tested investment mechanism, replicated globally, delivers exactly the scale of action needed, with billions of pounds to be pumped into the British economy replacing aging, polluting infrastructure.
“Now the Government and GB Energy should focus efforts on supporting new green technologies to unleash their potential, replicate offshore wind’s success and deliver on their ambition of making Britain a clean energy global superpower.”
Moray West wins months after first power
© Supplied by Ocean WindsThe second Scottish project to win in the AR6 “offshore wind permitted reduction” category was Moray West.
Earlier this year the Ocean Winds project delivered first power from the 882MW site.
The project, off the Moray Firth in northern Scotland, is nearing the end of the construction phase and is expected to become fully operational in 2025.
Ocean Winds is a 50-50 joint venture between France’s Engie and Spain’s EDP Renewables.
In AR6 Moray West secured 73.50MW for a strike price of £54.23 per MWh.
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