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Alarming IPCC report demands urgent action on new offshore wind – ScotWind consortium

10 Aug 2021

The alarming conclusions of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report underline the need for urgent action to deliver more offshore wind to help reduce emissions and prevent the worst impacts of the climate emergency.

That’s according to a consortium of leading companies comprising SSE Renewables, Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni), and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) which are jointly bidding in Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind seabed leasing process.

The landmark IPCC study is the largest ever assessment report produced on climate change and issues a stark warning that the world is running out of time to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Such a scenario will result in more extreme weather, rising sea levels, melting permafrost, marine heatwaves and severe impacts on ocean ecosystems and the people that rely on them.

Scientists have warned climate change can still be limited – but only if there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

ScotWind, the largest auction of seabed for wind technology in a decade, will secure around 10GW of new offshore wind projects in Scottish waters. In the wake of the UN scientific report’s ‘code red for humanity’, the SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP partners described ScotWind as ‘absolutely critical’ in the fight to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Paul Cooley, Director of Capital Projects at SSE Renewables, said:

“The IPCC report is an alarming publication and should act as a wake-up call to world leaders preparing to meet at COP26 that strong action is needed to avert climate disaster. The worst can be avoided if the world acts fast. For the renewables sector, this demands urgent action is taken to deliver new offshore wind to help prevent the worst impacts of the climate emergency. That’s why delivering on Scotland’s 10GW of new offshore wind energy under the ScotWind process is absolutely critical to Scotland and the UK’s ambitions, and why successful bids must take the steps necessary to accelerate delivery so that ScotWind projects can be rapidly developed.”

As part of its ScotWind bids, the leading renewable energy partnership of SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP has already taken significant strides to ensure the projects it is bidding for are in pole position to deliver at speed. This includes the commencement of Baseline Ornithology and Marine Mammal Aerial Surveys so its candidate projects can be developed and delivered at greater pace. The partnership has also secured pre-CION grid connection offers for the projects, providing additional project clarity. This allows the project partners to engage with stakeholders, thereby accelerating this essential element of project delivery.

Hisafumi Manabe, President & CEO of Marubeni Offshore Wind Development Corporation, said:

“The IPCC report is positive proof of why urgent steps are required to ensure every country plays its part to avoid a climate catastrophe. Scotland has proudly led the way in the delivery of new renewable energy and now with ScotWind, which provides an opportunity to embrace the next renewables revolution through the large-scale development of floating offshore wind technology, it will ensure the country remains at the forefront of climate action.”

Michael Hannibal, Partner at CIP, added:

“With COP26 less than 100 days away, it’s critical that businesses commit to working with the Scottish and UK Governments to do all we can to accelerate our drive towards net zero. ScotWind can power forward that drive with projects that are ready to deliver and represents a vital opportunity for Scotland to harness the abundance of clean electricity that can be produced from offshore wind using both fixed bottom and floating technologies.”

Last month the partnership announced it had jointly submitted competitive bids into Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind seabed leasing process.

The highly-credible consortium has unrivalled local and global experience as well as unparalleled technical and environmental expertise, making it uniquely placed to deliver on Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind goal of securing around 10GW of new offshore wind projects in Scottish waters.

Perth-headquartered SSE Renewables already has an unrivalled track record in Scotland, including the country’s largest offshore wind portfolio and is building more offshore wind energy in the world right now than any other company. It includes the 1.1GW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm in the Firth of Forth which will be Scotland’s largest, and the world’s deepest, fixed-bottom offshore wind farm when complete in 2023. Together with CIP, SSE Renewables also successfully co-developed and constructed the operational 588MW Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, the first large-scale deep-water offshore wind development in Scotland. In the north of Scotland, CIP has outlined plans to build a floating wind farm with a capacity of up to 100 MW off the coast of Dounreay in the Pentland Firth. SSE Renewables’ parent company, FTSE-listed SSE plc, has contributed more than £1billion in GVA economic contribution to Scotland in the last year and employs over 4,500 people.

Marubeni brings a wealth of sector experience of delivering floating offshore wind, including leading floating offshore wind demonstration projects in Japan with five different floating foundations. CIP has an international footprint with vast experience of delivering offshore wind across continents and has opened a global floating offshore wind competence centre in Edinburgh.

These capabilities and commitments, coupled with a combined worldwide development portfolio of more than 27GW, demonstrate the SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP partnership’s extensive and successful track record of delivery in offshore wind, both locally and globally.