Scotland launches flagship offshore wind leasing round to help decarbonise North Sea platforms

Crown Estate Scotland has invited offshore wind developers to put forward project proposals for the leasing of seabed to reduce UK North Sea emissions and boost innovation.

Under the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) offshore wind leasing process, which is separate to the ScotWind leasing round for commercial scale wind projects in Scottish waters, developers can apply for the rights to build small-scale innovative offshore wind projects, of less than 100MW, and projects which will provide green electricity to oil and gas infrastructure.

A two-week registration window opens today with the opening of the application window to follow later this month which will last until November 18, 2022. Depending on the volume and quality of submissions, it is envisaged that applicants will be notified of the leasing results by the end of March 2023.

Awards will be determined on a mixture of price bid and quality and will be split into two pots – one for smaller-scale innovation projects, and one for projects linked to oil and gas infrastructure.   

Colin Palmer, director of marine for Crown Estate Scotland, said: “INTOG represents an exciting opportunity to help decarbonise oil and gas installations and enable innovative projects which are important in lowering costs for the commercial deployment of offshore wind, reducing risk, and developing Scotland as a destination for innovation and technical expertise.  

“Platform electrification, which INTOG will help deliver, will reduce North Sea oil and gas emissions while also supporting new skills and jobs. Taken as a whole, INTOG will play a significant role in helping us reach net-zero and meet our energy requirements of the future.”