This week we welcomed Neil Gray MSP, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Energy, to Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm alongside other representatives from the Scottish Government's Marine Directorate.
The Cabinet Secretary was welcomed by our fantastic team at the Montrose Operations base, and favourable conditions allowed for a successful offshore trip to Seagreen and a tour of the new Edda Brint SOV Vessel.
Engagement at senior level across various governments is not only essential to ensuring the deployment of our current offshore pipeline, it is invaluable in allowing us as a business to continue building relationships for our future pipeline to come. We have positioned ourselves as the UK clean energy champion and what better way to showcase this than being able to take the Cabinet Secretary for Energy to bump onto one of our turbines, in Scotland's largest offshore windfarm, in the deepest waters that fixed bottom technology has ever been installed globally.
There was plenty to discuss in relation to Scottish Offshore Wind potential and SSER’s pipeline and ambition, and so we had a lengthy and extremely beneficial conversation with the Cabinet Secretary on a range of crucial issues including our plan to invest c£15bn in Scotland as part of our NZAP Plus programme, the importance of securing a sustainable supply chain to deliver this plan, and the need for CfD reform in the sector to help make our NZAP Plus plan a reality.
Most encouragingly, we were able to discuss in some detail the ongoing Scottish Government consultation on the potential closure of sandeel fisheries as a means of securing strategic compensation for the offshore wind industry. This is an incredibly nuanced topic that will be paramount if we are deliver projects like Berwick Bank and our wider pipeline to come. The Cabinet Secretary showed a real understanding of the importance of this issue, and it is no coincidence that these messages are really beginning to land due to the ongoing detailed work our teams have been carrying out on this subject.
This trip also marked my first opportunity to visit the Seagreen site since we reached a huge milestone of completing our offshore installation programme. We cannot underestimate the scale of the achievement here. Delivering projects like Scotland's largest offshore wind farm, in the deepest waters used anywhere in the world for a fixed bottom site does not happen by chance or overnight. It is the culmination of years of planning, teamwork, and commitment. I want to congratulate everyone working on this incredible project for the progress made to date as we now enter the final commissioning stages.
The offshore wind sector is growing at a truly industrial revolution scale pace and our business is at the very heart of it. This was a fantastic visit, which I am sure will lead to more positive dialogue within the Scottish Government on shared strategic ambitions. There was also no need for any sea-sickness bags - always a bonus!