Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is conducting a study on behalf of Crown Estate Scotland on potential economic benefits of more floating wind projects in Scotland.
The study may help pave the way for the UK government to make new policy decisions to support industry growth, which could enable companies involved at all stages to not only create more jobs but also expand overseas, Crown Estate Scotland said.
“We want to find out the scale of the economic benefits – jobs, supply chain and exports – from growing the Scottish floating wind industry. The results of this study will help UK government and others take policy decisions on how to support development,” Sian Wilson , Senior Development Manager at Crown Estate Scotland, said.
The project will look at different scenarios based on different scales of development and potential UK content, how government policy may impact it and the different economic outcomes of the scenarios.
Engagement of regulatory bodies, industry and developers will be sought throughout the project in direct discussions, as well as in an industry workshop.
Besides Crown Estate Scotland, the GBP 50,000 project will be overseen by The Crown Estate, RenewableUK, Scottish Renewables and the Offshore Wind Industry Council.
The study is expected to be finalised and published in summer 2018.
Following the launch of the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland, there are currently further three test and demonstration scale projects with planning consent and seabed rights from Crown Estate Scotland.