Denmark, Spain and Italy team up for Scots offshore wind farm bid

The latest renewable energy consortium to announce its intention to bid for a slice of Scottish offshore wind farm action is made up of companies from Denmark, Italy and Spain.

The three firms aim to unlock the potential of floating wind technology through the upcoming ScotWind leasing round.

Denmark’s Orsted, Italy’s Falck Renewables and Spain’s BlueFloat Energy have thrown their hat in the ring as Crown Estate Scotland prepares to carve up parts of the North Sea for wind farm developments.

The consortium is targeting seabed leases for sites that lend themselves to the deployment of large-scale floating wind technology, a spokeswoman for the partnership said.

Falck Renewables has been active in the UK since 2002. It has 10 wind farms around Scotland, including Kilbraur, Sutherland, and operational headquarters in Inverness.

The Milan-based firm pioneered a co-operative ownership approach to wind farm development at its Boyndie site, near Banff. Co-operatives now own stakes in seven of its wind farms.

Falck Renewables UK managing director Richard Dibley said: “We are convinced the technology will play a crucial role in helping to reach Scotland’s net-zero goals.”

Orsted, headquartered in Fredericia, on Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, claims to have developed and built more offshore wind projects than any other company in the world.

BlueFloat boasts some of the most extensive knowledge and hands-on experience in executing floating offshore wind schemes of any project developer in the world, and was founded by a team of floating offshore wind experts.

These projects use a floating foundation anchored to the seabed by mooring lines, allowing projects to be sited in deeper waters.