Crown Estate Scotland has begun assessing the 19 applications it has received for its 6GW-plus innovation and targeted oil and gas (Intog) offshore wind leasing process.
Of these applications, ten are for the innovation part and nine for powering oil and gas platforms.
The seabed landlord announced the closure of Intog’s bidding window today (13 December).
Developers were offered the chance to register for the leasing round in August for North Sea offshore projects that would either be used to decarbonise oil and gas infrastructure or for projects which demonstrate wind innovations such as green hydrogen production, or in offshore wind using floating platforms or fixed-bottom foundations.
Crown Estate Scotland believes that the innovation portion of this leasing process could support up to 500MW of offshore wind capacity, while the oil gas portion could support up to 5.7GW.
Exclusivity agreements – a preliminary agreement between the seabed landlord and the developer – for the projects are expected to be announced by the end of April 2023. Developers would then need to secure a lease for their projects.
