Ørsted unveils £12 billion Scottish offshore wind investment plan
By:
Tom Russell
21/09/2021
Ørsted
Ørsted has unveiled plans
to invest up to £12 billion directly with Scottish companies on developing
and constructing offshore wind farms over the next ten years. It claims
billions more to be spent with Scottish supply chain businesses once these
wind farms become operational.
These proposals are contained in bids submitted to the Crown Estate Scotland
through its ScotWind offshore wind leasing round and would provide more
than 8.5GW of electricity if Ørsted's bids are successful.
The company has entered bids for a total of five projects, two floating
wind only bids as part of its joint venture partnership with BlueFloat
Energy and Falck Renewables and a further three as Ørsted alone which include
a mix of fixed and floating wind technologies.
Martin Neubert, Chief Commercial Officer at Ørsted explains why Scotland
is a key priority for the company: “We have recently set out our aspiration
to become the world’s leading green energy major by 2030. Orsted has the
largest development pipeline in the offshore wind industry and it’s our
clear ambition to remain the global market leader in offshore wind.
“We committed to these ambitious plans for the ScotWind leasing round
not only because Scotland can play a key role in achieving our aspiration
but because we firmly believe our scale and experience in offshore wind
puts us in a unique position to help Scotland transition to a low carbon
economy as quickly as possible.
“By incorporating large-scale offshore wind generation alongside renewable
hydrogen and green fuels to decarbonise hard-to abate sectors in heavy
industry and transport, we will create a truly integrated decarbonisation
solution delivering low-cost, renewable power. We believe our bids represent
a significant contribution to achieving Scotland’s ambitious climate change
targets and will underpin the country’s renewable energy economy for generations.”
In 2017, Ørsted completed a transformation, ceasing all investment in oil
and gas and fully committing to renewable energy. Ørsted has constructed
over 7 GW of offshore wind, including the world's first offshore wind farm
in 1991, and currently has 27 offshore wind farms in operation across Europe,
the USA and Asia Pacific. With a total of 12 complete offshore wind farms
in the UK, Ørsted claims its sites are able to produce enough green electricity
to power over 4.2 million homes a year. This is expected to rise to over
5.5 million homes when its current construction projects become operational.
Duncan Clark, Head
of Region UK for Ørsted outlined the company's commitment to work with
Scottish ports and suppliers to develop infrastructure and a supply chain
that will enable Scotland to establish itself as a leading player in the
global offshore wind market:
Duncan Clark commented:
“Scotland undoubtedly has some of the best offshore wind resources in
the world. The ScotWind leasing round is a pivotal moment for the development
of the offshore wind sector in Scotland, capitalising on its superb offshore
wind potential and world-leading offshore engineering and contracting capabilities,
unlocking investment that will create jobs and opportunities for Scottish
businesses for generations.
“Ørsted is the global leader in developing, constructing, and operating
offshore wind farms. On the road to becoming the global leader we have
gained deep experience in the unique skill-sets required for consenting
and constructing offshore wind farms and have a proven track record of
delivering on time and on budget. In building and equipping our teams in
Scotland, we will use this experience to deliver large-scale projects into
operation by 2030 in line with the Scottish Government’s target of 11GW
of installed offshore wind by this date.
“Indeed, we’ve already started development works to ensure we hit the
ground running - engaging with supply chain companies and with the offshore
wind clusters. We’ve been extremely encouraged by the conversations we’ve
had to date and see a range of opportunities to build the Scottish supply
chain so Scottish businesses benefit from the step-change in offshore wind
ambition that ScotWind will deliver and to ensure that Scotland's offshore
wind industry will continue to develop and thrive for decades to come."
Ørsted plans to develop renewable hydrogen projects in Scotland using some
of the electricity from the proposed offshore wind farms. Ørsted is already
developing renewable hydrogen projects across Europe and in the UK which
will help replace fossil fuels in the maritime, aviation, heavy road transport,
refinery and steel sectors. The company is looking forward to helping Scotland
benefit from an industry that by 2045 could be worth up to £25 billion
a year to the Scottish economy.
Duncan Clark continues: “We have seen the positive, transformative
impact of our offshore wind development in providing clean, cheap energy
for homes and businesses all over the world; creating new jobs and skills
that leave a lasting legacy in communities; and investing in local supply
chains to help build their capabilities and open access to opportunities
on our projects across the globe.
“For example, in Taiwan our team has been working closely with Taiwanese
businesses and industry suppliers for a number of years to drive local
supply chain development and provide support for these businesses to compete
successfully in the offshore wind market. In 2018 Ørsted signed contracts
with three new local suppliersCentury Wind Power (CWP) and Formosa Heavy
Industries Corporation (FHI) and China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSBC)
to provide pin piles for our Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind
Farms.
“Each pin pile is nearly 4 metres in diameter, weighs approximately 400
tons and is around 80-90 metres long, equivalent to the height of a 30-storey
building. Despite their size, the manufacturing tolerance is only a few
millimetres, and so it can be quite a challenge for suppliers without any
offshore wind manufacturing experience to achieve the technical requirements.
“We signed contracts with our local suppliers early to allow sufficient
lead time for them to properly prepare to fabricate the pin piles. Ørsted
also provided a package of support for these new market entrants, which
was designed to shorten their learning curve, help them ramp up their high-level
welding competence and adopt international offshore wind QHSE standards
to lay a solid foundation for them to grow and compete for other offshore
wind projects in the future.
“In the United Statesour 2.4 GW Mid Atlantic clusterhas been the catalyst
for the construction of the first offshore wind manufacturing facility
for monopiles in the country. Work began earlier this year on the 70-acre
site in New Jersey which will create a significant long-term boost for
the state’s economy, creating hundreds of jobs and positioning New Jersey
as thesupply chain hub of the American offshore wind industry.
“Through our existing UK projects, Ørsted has helped establish Grimsby
and the Humber area as a global leader in offshore wind and this success
can be replicated in Scotland. As the offshore wind industry stands poised
for the development of commercial scale floating offshore wind, Scottish
businesses are strongly positioned to benefit and cement Scotland’s world
leading position in this exciting new technology.”
