With its offshore ambitions being given the green light at the ScotWind leasing round, ScottishPower Renewables is now driving forward three innovative new projects that not only aim to turbocharge net zero ambitions, but also create jobs and lower energy bills.

The mission to grow Scotland’s renewable energy sector has never been so critical.

Beyond the urgent need to achieve sustainability and meet net zero targets, the conflict in Ukraine and resultant energy crisis have brought into sharp focus the importance of energy security.

While the challenges are significant, there are also opportunities to drive forward at speed with innovative projects; initiatives that not only tackle climate change and provide energy independence, but also deliver tangible economic investment, jobs and societal benefits.

As the biggest winner in Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing round last year, ScottishPower is leading the charge here with the rights to develop three new offshore windfarms.

Managing Director for Offshore Development and Operations at ScottishPower Renewables, Gillian Noble, points out: “It’s the scalability of offshore that’s the really exciting element for everybody.

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Gillian Noble, Managing Director for Offshore Development and Operations at ScottishPower Renewables

 

"If you look at what we will bring through our 7GW from three new offshore windfarms, two in partnership with Shell, we are en route to more than £20billion worth of spend to build these projects. Within that we’ve committed somewhere between £9bn and £10bn through Scottish content and that will bring lots of positive benefits for many different reasons.”

Faced with the existential economic challenges created by the energy crisis, Noble believes consumers are now much more aware about connections between how energy is generated, how it moves through the grid and what this means to prices.

She acknowledges that, at the same time, there’s a weight of expectation to solve cost issues. 

“We get that obvious question: how do we lower energy bills? The answer is really simple: more renewables producing more homegrown green electricity. We can go back many years and see achieving net zero and delivering a cleaner and greener future as absolutely why we took the route we did into renewables when we did. 

“But with recent events, that focus has shifted, with affordability and security of supply for the UK now sitting alongside sustainability – which had always been that first goal for us – as three motives of equal importance. 

“A renewable energy project isn’t going to bring down bills tomorrow – I think we would all accept that – but it is one of the quickest ways we absolutely will provide solutions to all three of these challenges.”
Another direct benefit from the work of ScottishPower is job creation.

“We’re currently undertaking the largest recruitment campaign we’ve had on the go ever,” says Noble, who leads the company’s work on offshore wind projects across the UK and Ireland. 

“We are looking for 1000 new people this year alone to come and play their part in the clean energy future, and that is huge by any standard. This is a real investment in people and in skills for the future and, through the likes of our ScotWind projects, we have a key part to play.”

While many employment, training and development opportunities are already being delivered, Noble notes some who will be working on these future offshore projects are still in school.

“This is why engagement with the workforce of the future is so important. We have a supply chain strategy team talking to companies and looking at future investments and opportunities from offshore wind. However, a lot of their work also focuses on how we grow the skills for the future industry and that means getting right in at the start and working with primary schools to begin the education journey at that point.” 

Education is also an important element when it comes to public perception of green energy. Right now many consumers are examining their usage and have become more socially responsible for their consumption.

“We’re committed to bringing people with us on this transition and that means explaining that offshore wind doesn’t just matter for sustainability reasons, but has a much wider impact and we all have our part to play,” says Noble.

“We need the Scottish Government, Marine Scotland and other agencies to support that message.”

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Innovative LiDAR buoy systems are routinely used by ScottishPower Renewables in the offshore environment to gather important data on wind speed and direction

 

As Chair of the Developer Group of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), which brings together offshore wind developers to work with the Scottish Government on shared challenges, Noble is keenly aware collaboration is vital.

“It’s important for us to use our wealth of experience in successful projects and share this with newer developers and the Government – after all, we’re in a very long marriage together as we move forward.”

Right now, Noble is confident Scotland is where it should be: at the heart of the transformation to net zero. 

“There will be challenges along the way and I wouldn’t pretend there aren’t challenges right now. 

“That’s why we have groups like SOWEC because we have to work together. We are all trying to achieve the same thing here and we have a bigger voice when we come together than if we try to operate in isolation from each other.

“And, with the urgency required by the whole of the UK to make renewables a success, we need other elements of the infrastructure and the planning system and National Grid to all come together cohesively to help.

“The opportunities offered by ScotWind are unparalleled and we will continue to keep our focus on where we know it needs to be and what we can achieve.” 

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New depths of innovation

A trio of offshore windfarms earned instant flagship status after ScottishPower became the biggest winner in Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing round last year, with MarramWind and CampionWind floating projects (joint ventures with Shell) and MachairWind set to generate up to 7GW of clean, green electricity.

Kiera Wilson is Senior Project Manager for MachairWind, which has a proposed generating capacity of 2GW – enough to power more than two million homes. The fixed turbines will be located off the coast of Argyll, where ScottishPower Renewables already has a long-established presence through onshore developments.

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Kiera Wilson Senior Project Manager for MachairWind

 

“There are huge opportunities from our ScotWind projects,” says Wilson, “and the three we’ve secured through the leasing process represent huge potential for businesses across the supply chain – for everything from port facilities to the wider impact during the operational and maintenance phase. 

“A total of £75million of supply chain stimulus funding will be provided across these three projects to help businesses make the most of these opportunities.”

Project Director Richard Eakin, the lead for taking forward both the MarramWind and CampionWind projects – which are being created in partnership with Shell – believes these floating farms will be genuine gamechangers.

“Floating is a completely new technology in terms of what we’re doing on an industrial scale,” he notes. “The units are going to be very, very large and there will have to be a lot of local work to help construct and outfit them. 

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Project Director Richard Eakin

 

“This means a lot of potential for companies locally to contribute to the construction, operational and maintenance phases. Although these projects won’t be commissioned and constructed until the back end of this decade, moving into the 2030s, the work is starting now in terms of the supply chain engagement. 

“We’re already talking to many companies who are willing to invest to help deliver the things we’re going to need to build out these projects.

“Through these conversations, stimulus funding and genuine positivity – not just from ourselves but other developers, government and other agencies – there is a real willingness to ensure these projects succeed . . . and this means they will succeed.” 

Pivotal in this success will be early community engagement and work on that is already under way for ScottishPower’s ScotWind projects.

Wilson says: “A strong theme for MachairWind is making sure we are engaging closely with communities on Islay, Colonsay and Jura and giving them a chance to be informed and get involved. We want to take them on the journey with us.

“Although it’s very early days, we’re already engaging with local people, councils, community organisations, development trusts and businesses. And there is a real keenness from them to play their part in supporting a clean electricity future, with the conflict in Ukraine and energy crisis highlighting the need for us to have greater home-grown energy security – and at speed. 

“We’re also carrying out a socioeconomic impact and scenario planning exercise designed to assess the potential impacts on employment and businesses, with the aim of maximising the benefits of this development to communities. 

“We know these communities well, but this is the first offshore project and people are genuinely excited by the prospect.”

A community drop-in event is also planned for next month in the north-east for the MarramWind floating wind project.

Integral to the success of the floating windfarms will be the development of the future skills needed and the ScottishPower/Shell joint venture is working with the National Energy Skills Accelerator to maximise economic and employment opportunities related to the development of floating offshore wind farms in Scottish waters.

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ScottishPower Renewables' MachairWind project on Islay has a proposed generating capacity of 2GW – enough clean, green electricity to power the equivalent of more than two million homes across the UK

 

This could include initiatives such as STEM education workshops in primary and secondary education settings, as well as work experience positions, apprenticeships and internships.

Eakin says: “A big part of our focus is on making sure the skills and experience that exists in the oil and gas industry can be transitioned into this new floating offshore wind landscape and delivering the resulting benefits for the north-east.”

The sheer size of this landscape cannot be underestimated: MarramWind will provide 3GW and CampionWind 2GW of homegrown green electricity. 

“To offer some perspective, our largest project in operation to date in the UK has just over 700 megawatts, so these are significantly larger with the potential to generate clean electricity to more than six million homes,” says Eakin.

“They will be using much larger turbines than previous fixed bottom projects. We’re further offshore too and so benefit from much better wind conditions and, therefore, power generation.” 

Eakin notes, however, that in all of this, there is a pressing need to move forward quickly.

“MarramWind, in particular, is all about speed and could be one of the first industrial-scale floating windfarms in the world. We’re working to push this project forward at pace and want to achieve consent as quickly as possible and move forward to construction.”
Eakin notes that collaboration and cooperation across public and private sectors is vital to make this happen.

“There’s a lot of work being done regarding how we support the supply chain with Scottish Government and all the other developers who were successful in the Scotwind leasing round.

“This is all about how we collectively pool our funds and efforts and experience together to make sure we spread our ability to invest as widely as possible and support supply chain companies to get themselves ready for these opportunities. 

“This will be a much more successful exercise, if we do it together – government, industry, supply chain and other stakeholders, such as local communities and fisheries. 

“Collaboration really is the key.”