ScotWind Partners Award First Supplier Contracts

Thistle Wind Partners (TWP), a partnership between DEME, Qair, and Aspiravi, has entered into a series of new supplier contracts for its two ScotWind projects in Scotland.

The two projects are the 1 GW Clearan Ear-Thuath floating wind farm located 33 kilometres off the coast of Orkney and the 1 GW Cluaran Deas Ear fixed-foundation offshore wind project located 47 kilometres from Aberdeen.

RPS has been selected to provide consenting support services, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), and Habitats Regulation Assessments (HRA), which will be submitted for both project consent applications in 2025.

APEM has begun supporting TWP with their baseline survey, Digital Aerial Surveys (DAS) of seabirds and mammals, as well as LiDAR surveys of seabirds within and in proximity to the project sites. This data will help inform the EIAs for both areas in the coming years and support the marine consent applications.

For fisheries liaison, TWP has appointed Glasgow’s Blackhall & Powis, a specialist consultancy in land and marine project management, which will work with TWP to ensure that the new offshore wind developments harmonise with other maritime industries.

”Our focus for the next two years is on completion of the environmental, geophysical and geotechnical studies for our two projects. Towards the end of 2023, we will be in a position to begin preliminary front-end engineering and design (pre-FEED) studies with a view to narrowing down our options,” Ian Taylor, Project Director at TWP, said.

”We encourage any potential technology, consultancy and service providers to register with us. We have pledged to maximise local content for our wind farms, and as a technology-neutral developer, we are open to all offerings, including from new market entrants and small businesses.”

The Cluaran Deas Ear wind farm will be developed within the E3 lease site covering 187 square kilometres. The wind farm will feature jacket foundations.

The Clearan Ear-Thuath will be built in the NE2 lease area covering 200 square kilometres. The developers plan to use floating tension leg platform foundations.

Both projects will connect to the UK grid network and are part of the National Grid Electricity System Operator HND Follow Up process, with grid connection points and grid contracts expected to conclude in 2023.

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