Wind Energy – ScotWind
Thistle Wind Partners (TWP), a partnership between DEME, Qair and Aspiravi, enters the new year with a series of new supplier contracts for its two ScotWind projects.
The projects are a 1 GW floating wind farm located 33 km off the coast of Orkney and a 1 GW fixed-foundation offshore wind project located 47 km from Aberdeen, both in Scotland.
RPS has been selected to provide consenting support services, environmental impact assessments (EIA) and habitats regulation assessments (HRA), which will be submitted for both project consent applications in 2025.
APEM has begun supporting TWP with their baseline survey, digital aerial surveys (DAS) of seabirds and mammals, as well as LiDAR surveys of seabirds within and in proximity to the project sites. This data will help inform the EIAs for both areas in the coming years and support the marine consent applications.
For fisheries liaison, TWP has appointed Glasgow’s Blackhall & Powis, a specialist consultancy in land and marine project management, which will work with TWP to ensure that the new offshore wind developments harmonise with other maritime industries.
Ian Taylor, Project Director at TWP, commented: “Our focus for the next two years is on completion of the environmental, geophysical and geotechnical studies for our two projects. Towards the end of 2023, we will be in a position to begin preliminary FEED studies with a view to narrowing down our options. We encourage any potential technology, consultancy and service providers to register with us. We have pledged to maximise local content for our wind farms, and as a technology-neutral developer, we are open to all offerings, including from new market entrants and small businesses.”
