RENEWABLES firms have been invited to apply to develop wind farms off Scotland in a move the Government hopes could unlock around £8 billion investment and help to slash carbon dioxide emissions.
Crown Estate Scotland has launched the first offshore wind leasing round to cover acreage off the country for a decade.
The ScotWind round is expected to pave the way to around 10 new commercial windfarms being developed off Scotland.
Crown Estate Scotland reckons ScotWind could help deliver more than enough green electricity to power every Scottish household.
The organisation said the launch of the round was a huge step forward in kick-starting Scotland’s green recovery and meeting the official target to reduce carbon emissions to zero, net of amounts absorbed, by 2045.
Crown Estate Scotland estimates total investment in ScotWind Leasing projects could potentially surpass £8bn.
Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said the launch of the round marked a pivotal moment for the development of the country’s offshore wind sector and presented an opportunity to help develop the strategic economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Companies that apply for acreage will be required to submit a supply chain development statement. This must include information on where work will be completed.
However, it may be several years before construction work begins on any projects.
The first project is expected to start generating power in the late 2020s.
Energy giants have shown strong interest in windfarm projects off Scotland.
Last week France’s Total acquired a 51 per cent stake in the project to build the giant Seagreen windfarm off the Angus Coast, which will involve around £3 billion investment.
SSE has led work on the development of Seagreen. It started producing power from the giant Beatrice windfarm off Caithness last year.
A spokesman for SSE's renewables business said it was delighted to see Crown Estate Scotland launch ScotWind.
"Renewable energy is going to play a vital role in building a clean and sustainable economic recovery from coronavirus," said the spokesperson. "This is an important step in maintaining the pipeline for future projects and delivering on targets for the deployment of offshore wind.”
READ MORE: Energy giant sees potential in historic hydro power plant on Clyde
The last leasing round was completed in 2010 and covered the UK. Management of the Crown Estate in Scotland was devolved to the Scottish Government in 2017.
Crown Estate Scotland reckons projects developed under the ScotWind leasing round could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over six million tonnes annually.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here