Duncan Clark: Scotland could become a leading player in global offshore wind

Earlier this year, my firm Ørsted revealed its intention to invest up to £12 billion directly with Scottish companies to develop and construct offshore wind farms in the country over the next decade.

Picture: Alexisaj/Shutterstock

These proposals are contained in bids submitted to the Crown Estate Scotland through its ScotWind offshore wind leasing round, and could provide more than 8.5GW of clean, renewable electricity.

Ørsted’s proposed investment would also help drive the growth of a world-class Scottish supply chain. In the past five years alone, we have placed major contracts with nearly 100 UK suppliers, with many hundreds more supported in the wider supply chain.

We have also worked with more than 30 UK-based companies to export their goods and services to support Ørsted’s global offshore wind farm portfolio, including Scottish firms working on projects in Taiwan, Germany and the US.

Scotland is particularly well placed to benefit from floating projects due to its expertise in subsea engineering and deep-water operations.

Ørsted is committed to work with Scottish ports and suppliers to develop infrastructure and a supply chain that will enable Scotland to establish itself as a leading player in the global offshore wind market.

We have seen the positive, transformative impact of our offshore wind development all over the world, creating new jobs and skills that leave a lasting legacy, and investing in local supply chains to help build their capabilities and open access to opportunities on Ørsted projects.

For example, in Taiwan, our team has been working closely with Taiwanese businesses to drive local supply chain development and provide support for these businesses to compete successfully in the offshore wind market.

In 2018, Ørsted signed contracts with three new local suppliers Century Wind Power, Formosa Heavy Industries Corporation, and China Shipbuilding Corporation to provide pin piles for our Greater Changhua offshore wind farms. Each pin pile is nearly four metres in diameter, weighs approximately 400 tons and is about 80-90 metres long – equivalent to the height of a 30-storey building. Despite their size, the manufacturing tolerance is only a few millimetres, so it can be quite a challenge for firms with no offshore wind manufacturing experience to achieve the technical requirements.

We signed contracts with our local suppliers early to allow sufficient lead time for them to properly prepare to fabricate the pin piles. Ørsted also provided a package of support, designed to shorten their learning curve, help them ramp up their welding competence and adopt international standards to allow them to grow and compete for future offshore wind projects.

In the US, our 2.4GW Mid Atlantic cluster has been the catalyst for the construction of the first offshore wind manufacturing facility for monopiles in the country. Work began earlier this year on a 70-acre site in New Jersey which will create a significant long-term boost for the state’s economy, creating hundreds of jobs and positioning it as the supply chain hub of the American offshore wind industry.

Through UK projects, Ørsted has helped establish Grimsby and the Humber area as a global leader in offshore wind, and this success can be replicated in Scotland.

As the global offshore wind industry awaits the development of commercial-scale floating offshore wind, Scottish firms are strongly positioned to benefit and cement Scotland’s world-leading position in this exciting new technology.”

- Duncan Clark is Ørsted’s head of UK region