Shetland wind farm bidders appointed
Mainstream Renewable Power and Ocean Winds have been appointed preferred bidders for the development of a 1.8 GW offshore wind farm off the Shetland Islands.
The two companies now have the opportunity to enter into a 50/50 option agreement for the site, located east of the Shetland Islands in approximately 100m water depth. The output is expected to provide power for the equivalent of more than 2 million homes and save 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
Mainstream has already developed the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wineferrd Farm off the Fife coast. “This is a very significant win for Mainstream which plays to our key strengths as a global leader in floating offshore wind technology as well as our track record in offshore wind project development,” said Mainstream’s chief executive, Mary Quaney.
Ocean Winds was created as a 50-50 joint venture in 2020 by EDP Renewables and ENGIE. The company has 950 MW currently in operation at Moray East and 882 MW in late development stage at Moray West.
“As Ocean Winds, we are looking forward to using our more than 10-year expertise as pioneer in floating offshore wind farms from development to operation to progress this large floating project awarded with Mainstream, as well as the 500 MW floating project also awarded to Ocean Winds during this clearing round,” said chief executive, Bautista Rodriguez.
Mainstream recently joined forces with Aker Offshore Wind, creating a renewable energy company with more than 27 GW net portfolio. The company has already partnered with Ocean Winds in the joint venture KF Wind in South Korea and are in consortium to bid in the upcoming leasing round for floating wind at Utsira Nord in Norway.
