Crown Estate Scotland commits £250k to expand Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence programme

Crown Estate Scotland is the latest key stakeholder to join the industry-leading Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence programme led by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.

Crown Estate Scotland has contributed £250,000 to support the Environmental Interactions Strategic Programme (EISP) – one of four collaborative, multi-year programmes that deliver rigorous research and thought leadership for the sector. The EISP is designed to address identified knowledge gaps involving key environmental considerations of the UK’s floating offshore wind (FOW) sector, of both an ecological and coexistence nature.

A key focus of this programme is to develop and expand the evidence-based body of knowledge informing the delivery of an efficient, timely and transparent environmental impact assessment process for floating offshore wind.

Successfully addressing areas of uncertainty and supporting the development of solutions can help to reduce costs and derisk the future floating wind project development process. Floating offshore wind development is growing rapidly globally and differs from fixed wind installations in that floating wind farms can encounter distinct environmental interaction issues involving high priority areas such as wet storage of assembled structures, mooring and anchoring systems, dynamic cables and coexistence with other sea users.

Andrew Stormonth-Darling, ORE Catapult’s Principal Portfolio Manager – Floating Offshore Wind, said:

“The UK is already a world leader in the development of floating wind, but as we look to rapidly ramp up the commercial scale deployment of this technology we need to expand our understanding of how to identify, assess, and manage potential environmental interactions.

“As the organisation which manages Scotland’s seabed, Crown Estate Scotland has a vital role to play in enabling and supporting the sustainable development of floating wind.”

Andy Riley, Head of Offshore Wind for Crown Estate Scotland, said:

“Adding more knowledge and expertise to support strategic collation of information to enable sustainable development of floating offshore wind is an ambition shared across the renewable energy sector, and we are pleased to play our part in this important programme of work. We believe the Environmental Interactions Strategic Programme will help tackle gaps in understanding, so that floating offshore wind projects can be developed and deployed more effectively .”

Members of the Environmental Interactions Strategic Programme (EISP) Steering Group now include Crown Estate Scotland, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ), Marine Scotland, Natural Resources Wales, and The Crown Estate.