BW Ideol AS, a global leader in floating offshore wind, is pleased to announce that the Floating Energy Allyance has secured the rights to develop a floating offshore wind farm with an approximate capacity of 1GW off the northeast coast of Scotland through Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing round, which concluded today (Monday 17 January).

The ‘option agreement’ is for the area designated NE8 in the Scottish Government’s Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind, which is located some 75km to the northeast of Fraserburgh on the Aberdeenshire coast. 

The Allyance is a development partnership comprising BayWa r.e., a global renewable energy business with UK offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Elicio, an experienced Belgian offshore wind developer, owner and operator, and BW Ideol, a proven floating technology leader and international floating wind project co-developer. 

The Allyance will now seek to re-engage with key stakeholders, step up environmental surveys and progress further work on design as it moves towards developing detailed proposals for the project ahead of applying for consent. 

FEA expects to enter into an Option Lease Agreement with CES by April 2022. 

BW Ideol has signed with FEA an engineering service agreement and a technology licence agreement on January 14, 2022, securing revenues for BW Ideol in relation to the project over the coming years.

Paul de la Gueriviere, CEO of BW Ideol, said: “This award underlines the pertinence of our co-development model and shows once again how BW Ideol’s unique value proposition contributes to a winning and differentiating bid. We strongly believe that a credible execution and industrialization plan, accurate cost assumptions, a proven and bankable technology, and the option to manufacture our concrete floating foundations locally will contribute to our project’s successful execution. 

 “We will continue with our plans to create a manufacturing hub in the north of Scotland as illustrated by the strategic partnership agreement signed between BW Ideol and the Port of Ardersier in September 2021, and more generally to work to engage with the wider Scottish supply chain.”