5,000 jobs to be created as deals signed for trio of wind farms helping decarbonise North Sea oil and gas sector

A forthcoming trio of floating wind farms is set to help decarbonise the North Sea oil and gas sector, and create more than 5,000 jobs.

UK green energy infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has signed three floating wind Exclusivity Agreements as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, a pioneering initiative that aims to enable offshore wind energy to directly supply oil and gas platforms.

Cerulean was in March of this year named as one of the round’s winners, and the firm later detailed how along with partner Frontier Power International it was consequently looking to develop three vast sites comprising hundreds of floating turbines close together in the central area of the North Sea.

It now says the latest move marks a “huge milestone” in the creation of the North Sea Renewables Grid, a multi-billion-pound basin-wide green power generation and transmission system expected to not just supply energy to oil and gas assets but also provide early opportunities to the domestic floating wind supply chain.

Cerulean also cited independent analysis showing that Aspen, Beech and Cedar – the three sites that will form the Grid – are set to boost the UK’s economy by £10 billion, and it added that the project is expected to create more than 5,000 jobs in Scotland across the development, construction, operational and maintenance phases, with first power being targeted for 2028. Additionally, the firm said it is already putting the necessary contracts in place to deliver the Grid, with the project progressing through the development phase.

Cerulean co-founder and director Dan Jackson said: “This is a huge milestone in the creation of the North Sea Renewables Grid, and we are incredibly grateful to Crown Estate Scotland for their support as we move to the next phase in delivering floating wind at an unprecedented scale in the UK. [Front End Engineering Design] work will begin in earnest with our Tier 1 delivery consortium setting up the packages of supply chain contracts in 2024... we are also investing in new Scottish offices and in advanced talks with local ports and yards.

“The oil and gas industry is required for UK energy security for years to come – but must fulfil its decarbonisation commitments. The North Sea Renewables Grid will be a vital cog in achieving that, while also setting the pace for other floating wind farms to follow.”

Humza Malik, Cerulean board member and chief executive of Frontier Power, added: “Key to the North Sea Renewables Grid’s development has been its ability to dovetail transmission with generation. This is a significant milestone and huge credit must go to Crown Estate Scotland for their shepherding of the process.

Cerulean Winds has signed three floating wind Exclusivity Agreements as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s INTOG leasing round. Picture: contributed.

“This project will deliver vast benefits to the Scottish and UK offshore wind supply chains and – alongside our contractor consortium – we are already in advanced talks with strategic suppliers. We all know that green jobs will be the future of the energy industry, and the North Sea Renewables Grid will have a big hand in delivering this long-awaited boom.”

Cerluean in 2021 unveiled plans to build a 200-turbine floating offshore wind farm and green hydrogen plants in Scotland in what would be the UK’s “single biggest emissions abatement project to date”.