Landmark announcement of ScotWind winners heralds new era for UK offshore wind

“Today’s announcement marks the start of a new era for the UK’s world-leading offshore wind industry. ScotWind represents one of the country’s biggest ever steps towards net zero.

“To put this landmark into context, the 25 gigawatts of new capacity announced today is two and a half times the UK’s entire current offshore wind capacity. It’s also equal to the entire current operational offshore wind capacity for the whole of Europe. It will scale up our ability to slash emissions exponentially. In the long term, it will also help to reduce the UK’s vulnerability to international gas prices which are hurting consumers.

“Overall it’s a massive economic boost for the whole country at just the right time. These projects will attract billions of pounds from private investors, which will create thousands of skilled jobs and allow us to maximise supply chain opportunities all around the UK. It also underlines the need to speed up the planning process, so that we can connect these offshore wind farms faster across the UK to meet our targets for 2030 and beyond”.

“It’s highly significant that 60% of the new capacity announced today is for floating offshore wind projects. This will secure the UK’s lead in innovative floating wind, generating enormous amounts of power from the best wind resources in Europe, as well as creating opportunities for us to export our cutting-edge technology worldwide”.