Contracts worth almost £700 million have been awarded to 17 projects for new offshore wind farms along Scotland’s coasts.
Crown Estate Scotland was charged with overseeing the ScotWind Leasing bidding process, which received 74 applications from energy firms.
The final awards, which include contracts with Scottish Power, Shell, SSE and BP, total £699.2 million.
Most of the sites are on the east, north east or northern coast, with just one on the western side of Scotland.
Shell New Energies is the lead applicant on the most expensive development, off the coast of Aberdeen, estimated to cost £86 million in option fees.
While a site in the north east, construction of which will be led by Scottish Power Renewables, has the highest capacity, with 3,000 megawatts expected to be produced.
The developments – a combination of floating, fixed and mixed turbines – are estimated to produce almost 25,000 megawatts of energy.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the announcement was “truly historic”.
“ScotWind puts Scotland at the forefront of the global development of offshore wind, represents a massive step forward in our transition to net zero, and will help deliver the supply chain investments and high quality jobs that will make the climate transition a fair one,” she said.
While the total impact on the supply chain and on the number of jobs created will not be known until later in the process, the First Minister said there is “every reason to be optimistic” about the employment prospects of the developments.
“It allows us to make huge progress in decarbonising our energy supply – vital if we are to reduce Scotland’s emissions – while securing investment in the Scottish supply chain of at least £1 billion for every gigawatt of power.
“This will be transformational. And because Scotland’s workers are superbly placed with transferable skills to capitalise on the transition to new energy sources, we have every reason to be optimistic about the number of jobs that can be created.”
However, Louise Gilmour of the GMB trade union said:
“After the abject failure of the last decade on offshore wind manufacturing, progress will be judged on the number of jobs and scale of investment this leasing round brings to Scotland.
“But let’s be clear there are no guarantees – the list of successful applicants includes firms that have offshored tens of thousands of green manufacturing jobs to the rest of the world in previous projects.
“This is a massive test of the renewables industry’s environmental and social justice credentials, and the last chance saloon for political leaders who have promised a green jobs revolution for years.”
Simon Hodge, the chief executive of Crown Estate Scotland, said: “Today’s results are a fantastic vote of confidence in Scotland’s ability to transform our energy sector.
“Just a couple of months after hosting Cop26, we’ve now taken a major step towards powering our future economy with renewable electricity.
“In addition to the environmental benefits, this also represents a major investment in the Scottish economy, with around £700 million being delivered straight into the public finances and billions of pounds’ worth of supply chain commitments.
“The variety and scale of the projects that will progress onto the next stages shows both the remarkable progress of the offshore wind sector, and a clear sign that Scotland is set to be a major hub for the further development of this technology in the years to come.”
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