Unlocking Scotland’s offshore wind potential

When I started my career in economic development more than 20 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined the scale of opportunity we now have in offshore renewables.
It’s one of the biggest transformational opportunities in a generation and will significantly boost the contribution the region makes to Scotland’s economy.

Our report last year into regional transformational opportunities identified 251 projects in the planning pipeline with a combined investment value of over £100bn. Around 40% of this is offshore wind related.

Realising this massive economic potential is a huge responsibility for those of us involved in supporting the sector. Challenges include grid access and recovering costs associated with building, operating and maintaining the UK’s grid network.

With the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest up to £500m over five years in offshore wind supply chain infrastructure we can accelerate project developments, leverage private capital, and build market confidence. 

We’ve already made several approvals for this funding to support large-scale projects such as a £1.8m contribution for Stornoway Port’s Deep Water South development. This will position the Outer Hebrides as a strategic floating wind hub. Others include Kishorn in Wester Ross (£24.653m), Scapa Flow in Orkney (£5m) and Dales Voe in Shetland (£1.175m).

These investments underpin supply chain growth, strengthen port infrastructure, and create quality jobs. 

The sector is driven by strong market interest through ScotWind and INTOG leasing rounds. It’s also supported by major planned grid investments of £20bn across the north of Scotland by 2030. 

The Highlands and Islands will be right at the heart of this national energy transition and efforts to achieve Scotland’s ambition for up to 40GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040. The task may be daunting, but opportunities like this come once in a lifetime and must be seized.

This article is sponsored by HIE.

www.hie.co.uk