BLOG: Powering the potential of commercial scale offshore wind

Today I am attending the annual Floating Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen, jointly hosted by RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables. I’ve also had the opportunity to address the conference on the opportunity to deliver 25GW of floating offshore wind via the ScotWind process and how, at SSE Renewables, we’re powering the potential of commercial scale offshore wind.

I’m a naturally optimistic person and I’m struck by just how much can be achieved in 12 months. Only a year ago, delegates were at this conference having burnt the midnight oil, sweated blood, and shed a few tears on their ScotWind bid submissions. We were confident in the ability of our teams, curious of how others had approached the auction criteria, cautiously optimistic about our chances of success, and comfortable that a 1GW target with dedicated ring-fenced support showed the commitment of UK policy makers to our nascent technologies. Plus more was to come across the UK and further afield.

And here we are today,12 months on, with a British Energy Security Strategy target to get 5GW of floating wind operational by 2030, a secure pipeline of over 17.5GW of Scottish floating wind projects with more to come in the months ahead, and with English Celtic Sea and Irish opportunities on the horizon for 2023. There’s not a continent worldwide that isn’t considering the potential of floating wind, with new markets emerging in all corners of our little Blue Planet.

But we mustn’t squander this opportunity. Our growing heritage of industrial scale offshore wind in the UK is our greatest asset, with a fleet of operational and planned projects which is the envy of our neighbours in these increasingly turbulent times. We must capitalise on this capability and credibility, ensuring floating wind is seen in the UK as the logical successor to fixed wind. In doing so, we’ll consolidate all that knowledge and experience, building confidence that floating wind can deliver a future for offshore wind which will maximise the potential of the UK’s abundant natural resources, and secure our place as the leader in offshore renewables globally.

We have the platform to demonstrate the technology, commercial strategies and execution plans which will be the blueprint for building floating wind from Tokyo to Tasmania. To do this we must collaborate, we must recognise our collective capability, and use this to resolve our common challenges. We must recognise not every ounce of knowledge is a source of competitive advantage, and in many cases sharing our experiences and perspectives will deliver better outcomes quicker, and ensure the strength and sustainability of our sector for decades to come.

Floating wind has already demonstrated a capacity for mature collaboration which should be an example to others. The ORE Catapult Floating Wind Centre of Excellence and Carbon Trust Floating Wind Joint Industry Programme have shown that we can achieve a great deal when we work together. Our collaborative approach must expand to ensure our stakeholders and supply chains are included to deliver excellent outcomes for all, we can win together.

The Collaborative Framework and Strategic Investment Model has made encouraging progress so far in providing a platform for deeper, bolder collaborations. This will deliver on the potential of floating wind to be a catalyst for localisation and industrialisation, fuelling genuine long-term economic benefit in the communities we serve and the populations we will be powering.

And for us at SSE Renewables, that commitment to powering sustainable change in the communities we serve remains paramount. We’ve already demonstrated our projects can deliver powerful and positive change. In the last year alone, the delivery of our Seagreen project has driven a £1 billion contribution to Scottish GDP, supporting around 4,000 local supply chain jobs in the country.

As the world-leading developer of deep-water fixed offshore wind, we're leveraging our unrivalled experience and know-how to power the next generation of commercial-scale floating wind technology. We’re now leveraging that invaluable experience to accelerate the industrialisation and commercialisation of floating offshore wind. And in doing so, we’ll ensure our actions in delivering the next generation of floating wind will continue to transform communities.

For us at SSE Renewables, that’s not an ambition; it’s an action we’re committed to taking, beginning with our Ossian project. We believe Ossian will be yet another ground-breaking industrial scale Scottish project and will join the pantheon of industry-leading SSE Renewables offshore projects. Along with our partners Marubeni and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, we’ve established a high-performing collaborative project team based in Glasgow driving the development forward. We are establishing the project’s own identity, presence and vision while engaging proactively with stakeholders and progressing critical path consenting activities – this will help enable the delivery of Scottish industrial-scale floating wind this decade.

And in delivering this project, we will position Scotland and the UK as a global leader in commercial-scale floating offshore technology. Now that’s powering sustainable change.