Scope submitted for one of world’s largest floating windfarms

The scoping report presents in detail the nature and purpose of the project and its possible effects on the environment, marking the first step of the project’s consenting process.

“Cenos will make a significant contribution to Scotland’s net zero target, removing two million tonnes of carbon from our energy system each year,” said Lord Nicol Stephen, CEO & co-founder of Flotation Energy.

”The scale of the project is huge. It will deliver billions of pounds of new infrastructure investment and help create thousands of local jobs, helping to make the energy transition a reality.”

Big ambition

Located 200km offshore in the UK Central North Sea, the Cenos floating offshore windfarm will have up to 1.4GW of installed capacity when completed and will be connected to the UK grid.

As a result of the renewable power and grid-connection supplied through Cenos, oil and gas platforms in the surrounding areas will transition to using renewable energy. In addition, 5.5TWh of power from the project is expected to be supplied to the UK grid annually.

Overall, the Cenos project is estimated to cut emissions by more than two million tonnes of CO₂ each year.

“Across Europe, we are seeing a race to scale floating windfarms and Cenos is ready to be a frontrunner in delivering commercial-scale floating wind power,” said Olav Hetland, Vårgrønn CEO.

“Our project is designed to deliver first power as soon as possible to help meet the decarbonisation goals of the UK oil and gas sector while simultaneously kick-starting the development of a world-leading local supply chain for floating offshore wind centred on the North Sea.”

Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn are also partnering on the Green Volt floating offshore wind project. The developers have submitted leasing applications for both Cenos and Green Volt as part of the Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.

The Crown Estate is expected to announce awards in Q2 this year.