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Scotland set to raise £860m through offshore windfarm permits auction

Scotland set to raise £860m through offshore windfarm permits auction

The results of Scotland's biggest auction of licenses to build offshore windfarms is reportedly set to fetch up to £860 million when they are unveiled.

Crown Estate Scotland, the establishment, which is hosting the auction, intends to build wind farms with up to 10 GW of new generating capacity within the coming decade, potentially doubling the amount of power generated in Scottish seas and creating lots of jobs opportunities in the process.

The ScotWind program has sparked a frenzy of attention from international and domestic bidders, and might set up new benchmarks for the value of offshore plots leased for wind farms.

ScotWind is offering 8,600 sq. km of Scottish seabed across 15 locations in the first phase of leasing, enough to build wind farms that could generate energy for every household in Scotland and reduce more than 6 million tons of CO2 each year.

With 100 windmills, the Moray East windfarm has become the largest renewable energy source in Scotland, producing over 950 MW of energy. Seagreen, with 1 GW of production capacity, will supersede it next year. The £3 billion windfarm, which is located roughly 27 kilometers off the coast of Angus, is a joint project between TotalEnergies of France (51%) and Perth-based SSE Renewables (49%).

Today, the winning bids as well as the amount paid are anticipated to be released. In July, the Crown Estate announced that 74 offers for ScotWind had been received, many coming from consortiums.

One of them is Ørsted, Denmark's biggest energy firm, which built the world's first offshore wind farm in 1991. It has partnered with Falck Renewables of Italy as well as BlueFloat Energy, a floating wind expert.

Last year, the Crown Estate of Scotland raised the auction offer from £10,000 to £100,000 per sq. km. As such, the sale might raise £860 million if all bids are filed up to the maximum limit.

Source credit: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/16/scottish-auction-for-offshore-windfarm-permits-expected-to-raise-860m

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