ABPMer supporting Scotland’s offshore wind assessments process

Offshore staff

SOUTHAMPTON, UK — Scotland’s government has appointed marine consultancy and survey provider ABPmer to support the revision of its original sectoral marine plans for offshore wind energy and for the ScotWind and Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing rounds.

Crown Estate Scotland selected 20 projects under ScotWind and a further 13 under INTOG.

INTOG, with a total capacity of about 5.5 GW, was the world’s first leasing round designed to allow offshore wind energy to directly supply offshore oil and gas platform in the North Sea.

ScotWind offers a potential leased capacity of almost 28 GW.

To ensure consistency and account for developing projects and research, the plans in both cases follow the Scottish government’s established system of sectoral marine planning.

ABPmer is working with the government and stakeholders to conduct a strategic environmental assessment, habitats regulations appraisal, and socioeconomic impact assessment as well as supporting the statutory consultation process.

The Scottish government has defined a range of targets to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and generate more energy from renewable sources. The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 commits the government to achieve net-zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045.

Adoption of final plans should follow in 2024 following a formal consultation process.

08.04.2023