Scottish government green-lights Salamander floating wind project

The UK's Salamander offshore floating wind project has been awarded Section 36 Consent and associated marine licences, allowing developers to go ahead with building.

The 100MW Salamander project, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, will be located 35 km off the coast of Peterhead, UK.

Achieving Section 36 Consent is considered a major milestone for the project, as well as for Scotland's offshore wind pipeline.

It's the first innovation project from the INTOG leasing round to reach this stage and is on track for deployment by the end of 2030.

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In March this year, Salamander was awarded onshore Planning Permission in Principle for the project’s onshore works.

Hugh Yendole, project director, commented in a statement: “Coming hot on the heels of the onshore consent, this is yet another major achievement by the project team. While we worked proactively with MD-LOT in an attempt to achieve offshore consent - including compensation plans - within the 12-month target window, award within 15 months reflects our team’s expertise, passion, commitment and seamless teamwork.

"This...bodes well for Salamander’s goal as a stepping stone innovation project of unlocking the Scottish supply chain ahead of the larger ScotWind build out.”

According to the Salamander team, this project will help derisk future floating wind developments under the ScotWind leasing round by providing insights into the regulatory and commercial challenges associated with floating wind projects in these waters.

The team will now focus on working with Crown Estate Scotland to secure the Option Agreement and a Contract for Difference.

The Salamander wind farm will contribute to the Scottish government’s target of 11GW of installed offshore wind by 2030, as well as the UK government’s target of 5GW of operational floating offshore wind by the same date.

Scotland is considered a pioneer in floating offshore wind, with the Hywind Scotland (the first array in the world) becoming operational in 2017.

The Kincardine offshore wind farm phases 1 and 2 are also operational, bringing the combined capacity of floating offshore wind in Scotland to 80MW.