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Thistle Wind Partners (TWP), a consortium comprising DEME, Qair, and Aspiravi, has submitted the offshore scoping report for the Ayre floating offshore wind project to the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate.
The report was submitted to the Marine Directorate – Licensing & Operations Team to request a scoping opinion under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations.
It provides information on the proposed infrastructure and further outlines the approach to the EIA, including baseline data sources.
“TWP are delighted to meet this milestone for Ayre Offshore Wind Farm, which is a key step in the consenting journey for the development of our project. We will continue to work alongside our many stakeholders in the region, and will be out to share project information with the communities in Caithness later this year,” said Ian Taylor , Project Director.
In February this year, TWP submitted the onshore scoping report for the floating offshore wind project.
To keep stakeholders fully informed, the developer is planning community consultation events in Caithness for autumn this year and again in early 2025, to support pre-application consultation in advance of the submission of a planning application in 2025 for the onshore aspects of the 1 GW floating wind project.
Community consultation events will precede the offshore application submission, scheduled to take place in Orkney and Caithness in 2025.
The project in 2024 saw significant activity, including the completion of a 24-month campaign for offshore aerial bird and marine mammal surveys in February, followed by the benthic survey’s conclusion in April, according to TWP.
The developer added that these are key environmental baseline surveys of the array area and export cable corridor, used to support the impact assessment.
In addition to Ayre, TWP is also developing the Bowdun offshore wind farm in Scotland.
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Ayre is a 1 GW floating wind project planned to be built off the coast of Orkney and Bowdun is a 1 GW fixed-bottom offshore wind project off the coast of Aberdeen.
Construction of the two offshore wind farms will start in 2029. Both Ayre and the fixed-bottom project Bowdun are expected to be fully commissioned by 2033.
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