A Sea Change

Scotland has the power and potential to thrive as Europe’s Energy capital, but it must act now to seize the opportunity and capitalise on a new wave: floating offshore wind.

Offshore wind has come a long way since the first windfarm was commissioned off the coast of Denmark in the early 1990s. Progress back then was slow, with the UK's first fixed demonstration offshore windfarm being installed in December 2000. Early-stage wind turbines, with monopile foundations and placed less than 2km from shore, are now a far cry from the large-scale fixed offshore windfarms we see operating across the UK coastline today.

Technology continues to move on significantly, supported by a fiscal and political will to develop offshore wind industries globally and in turn, to drive energy security and net zero policy ambitions. Aberdeen, Scotland, has for decades been termed the Energy Capital of Europe, with the region’s established experience in oil and gas exploration, however now - Aberdeen wears a new crown, as the global leader in the development of floating offshore wind.

Few regions compare globally, with the skills, expertise and infrastructure that the North East of Scotland offers this new and exciting industry and a just transition in skills and labour is required to protect that. The deployment of more offshore wind developments will create thousands of jobs, as well as generating opportunities across the supply chain and decreasing costs for future projects. The time to act however, is now.

With vast wind resources and well understood sea conditions, coupled with proven offshore engineering and technologies, Scotland is uniquely placed to accelerate floating offshore wind developments on a global platform. It should be noted, some of the first test and demonstrator windfarms globally were launched in Aberdeenshire. Furthermore, at Kincardine, 15km off the coast of Aberdeen, the world’s first commercial floating windfarm has been generating power since 2021.

The founders of Kincardine, Allan MacAskill and Nicol Stephen created Flotation Energy in 2018 with the ambition to advance the immense opportunities that floating offshore wind can offer globally. In November 2022, they partnered with TEPCO Renewable Power – enabling the team to both move forward quickly with existing projects and to kick start new opportunities around the world. Today, the company has a project pipeline spanning 13GW of developments in the UK and internationally. With vast experience and knowledge in floating and fixed developments, Flotation Energy is already a leading expert in offshore wind.

Flotation Energy’s recent joint venture partnership with Vårgrønn saw the duo offered exclusivity by Crown Estate Scotland to develop a total of up to 1.9 GW of floating offshore wind capacity across two projects, Green Volt and Cenos.

The awards, made under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, are for offshore wind projects that provide low-carbon electricity to oil and gas platforms. By securing area exclusivity in the INTOG round, the Green Volt and Cenos projects will make a significant contribution to Scotland’s 2045 Net Zero target, and The North Sea Transition Deal’s goal to halve offshore emissions by 2030. INTOG also presents a huge opportunity for decades to come, as Scottish and UK supply chains develop to meet longer-term, strategic floating offshore wind developments.

Green Volt and Cenos have been in the planning for many years. The two projects have the potential to generate enough green power to electrify most of the oil and gas platforms in the Outer Moray Firth area and will also deliver renewable electricity back to the grid for consumers across the UK.

Offering affordable and reliable electrification, Green Volt and Cenos will enable oil and gas operators to play a critical role in the energy transition from 2027. The projects will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas platforms, saving over three million tonnes of CO2 each year. Pioneering the first large-scale decarbonisation and electrification of offshore platforms, Green Volt will become a project that defines and sets standards for how the industry progresses the next generation of floating developments, helping Scotland pivot quickly into, and through, the energy transition.

Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn’s first mover status in this area places them in a unique position to deliver. The Cenos project is currently working through its remaining offshore surveys, whilst Green Volt has completed these and already has obtained UK grid connection agreement to enable timely electrification of oil and gas assets. There is a time critical factor for decarbonisation of oil and gas, with ambitious timescales to meet, as well as providing a landmark opportunity for Scotland to lead in the global deployment of floating offshore wind.

However large the opportunity for Scotland is, there are very real challenges and barriers to success. Most importantly, how we create a just transition for those working in the traditional energy industries that have the technical and commercial skills needed to deliver these projects at pace? The reskilling and upskilling of people from oil and gas, as well as attracting a new generation of trailblazers, to write the next chapter in our global Energy industry will be key.

The scale of the prize for Scotland in floating offshore wind is potentially huge; it cannot however be complacent. Scotland is the powerhouse of offshore wind and to continue to hold this title it must be ready to scale up and be prepared for a new wave of CAPEX investment. By being agile and decisively supporting the projects that are deliverable, Scotland can build solid foundations for this new industry, to then scale it and export it globally.

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