Offshore wind is a cornerstone of Scotland’s clean energy ambitions, and a new podcast series learns more about the different aspects required to deliver the planned projects exceeding 40GW. Each episode in the series will focus on a different area.
The first two episodes have now been released. Episode one delves into the importance of Scottish ports. Many of Scotland’s historic ports require upgrades to service offshore wind, with works already underway. Facilities of all sizes can make a valuable contribution, evidenced by the contributions from the guests in the first episode. They are Stuart Wallace, CEO of Forth Ports Group, and Captain Tom Hutchison, CEO of Montrose Port Authority.
Listen to episode one below:
The ScotWind and INTOG leasing rounds are key enablers of the considerable generation capacity expansion of offshore wind.
“It’s the likes of Scotland and INTOG that sets the future direction,” says Wallace. “It’s that intention of the government in terms of the policies and the procedures that they’ve got that they want to move things in the right direction – That’s what gives the market the impetus, the element of certainty, to move in the right direction.”
To achieve these ambitions, the supply chain is critical. And building the supply chain is the theme for episode two.
Floating wind also makes up 24.7GW of the planned projects in ScotWind and INTOG. Given that it is a relatively new industry, inventing new technologies and scaling those up are of fundamental importance, as well as creating a new supply chain.
The guest for the second episode is Arnul Sayhan, who is programme director at the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP). The organisation has provided support to around 350 offshore wind projects and aims to accelerate the development of the UK’s offshore wind supply chain.
Listen to episode two below:
Meanwhile, episode three focuses on innovations in offshore wind. The guest is Andy Macdonald, director of offshore wind development and operations at the ORE Catapult and chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s Innovation Working Group.
In this episode, the discussion includes Scotland’s strengths in innovations for offshore wind, the support available for innovators, and details from successful project scale-ups. One example is the larger blade sizes to increase capacity generation of offshore wind turbines.
“For [offshore wind] to continue to be cost effective and to develop variations, including floating that can have applications in even wider areas, we need to keep innovating,” says Macdonald. “So, innovation to drive costs down, increase safety, and output are all really important parts of it.”
Listen to episode three below:
To learn more about offshore wind in Scotland, download the document below.
