Scotland is fully committed to wind energy

Shell will build two offshore wind farms floating at sea off the coast of Scotland. The oil group will do this together with the Scottish energy supplier ScottishPower. In the future, the parks must generate enough electricity for six million households.

These will be the first major wind farms for British waters. Most parks, east of Scotland, will not get a solid foundation because the sea is too deep. The wind farms on the Dutch North Sea coast have a fixed foundation, which is a lot cheaper in practice. This is possible because the sea at the Dutch locations is less than 50 meters deep. In Scottish waters, the windmills of only six of the seventeen parks will be placed on the seabed.

Scotland announced on Monday that it has big plans for offshore wind. In addition to the two wind farms in which Shell plays a role, there are another fifteen other successful tenders. The Belgian DEME, BP and Vattenfall, among others, have also been given the green light to start building parks. A total of 74 consortia had submitted a bid.

More than double the size of the Netherlands

If all plans are eventually implemented, Scotland can count on a capacity of no less than 25 gigawatts. By way of comparison: the current policy in the Netherlands, formulated in the Climate Agreement, is based on 11 gigawatts in 2030. Never before has the technology of floating wind farms been tested on such a large scale. According to Keith Anderson, chairman of ScottishPower’s board, wind energy will be ‘the foundation of the energy mix for the UK’.

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If all construction plans are actually implemented in the coming years, the Scottish authorities will receive 700 million pounds (835 million euros) in rights from the operators. “On top of the climate benefits, this project represents a major investment in the Scottish economy,” said Simon Hodge of Crown Estate Scotland, commenting on the award. In addition to the 700 million pounds in revenue, it concerns billions in investments that, according to him, will benefit the Scottish economy.

The new wind farms that Shell and ScottishPower will build in the coming years are called MarramWind and CampionWind. Both parks are relatively large: they account for a capacity of 5 gigawatts, so good for 20 percent of the total of the seventeen parks. It is not yet known when which projects should be completed. It is also not certain that all seventeen parks will actually be realized. This is partly dependent on obtaining all kinds of permits. Crown Estate Scotland, responsible for the development of the coast on behalf of the government, speaks of ‘the first phase of a long process’.

Shell already in Dutch wind energy

Shell and ScottishPower say they have not yet taken a final investment decision. The two partners have already jointly built 2 GW of offshore wind farms and have a further 11 GW under development.

In the Netherlands, Shell owns 100 percent of the Egmond aan Zee wind farm. That park, good for 37 turbines, came into operation in 2007 and has a capacity of 108 megawatts (0.1 gigawatts). Borssele III/IV is of a much more recent date, with a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts. This park, located off the coast of Walcheren in Zeeland, was built by Shell, Eneco and Van Oord, among others, and has been operational since 2021.