Crown Estate Scotland has delayed the launch of the ScotWind offshore wind leasing round until after the publication of Marine Scotland’s draft Sectoral Marine Plan (SMP).
This means that instead of the planned launch in October, ScotWind will be opened as soon as is practical following the publication of the draft SMP, expected this Autumn.
According to Crown Estate Scotland, aligning timescales with the SMP will help ensure maximum transparency and fairness from the beginning of the process and give all stakeholders confidence that they can take well-founded decisions.
The closing date for applications is expected to be around four weeks after the Adopted SMP is available.
“It’s critical that the leasing process is robust and transparent. The SMP will provide developers with certainty regarding the best locations for projects, so there are clear benefits in launching leasing after they have seen the draft version,” said John Robertson , Head of Energy & Infrastructure at Crown Estate Scotland.
“In their feedback, our stakeholders have highlighted the importance of maximising certainty for developers who are awarded rights – our approach and timings are designed to ensure a confident basis for the whole of the leasing round.”
Crown Estate Scotland plans to issue further detail on the ScotWind leasing launch date, and the work which is currently being undertaken towards that, in November, at the latest.