The ScotWind partnership has announced that they have signed their Option Agreement with Crown Estate Scotland following success in the results of the competitive ScotWind leasing round securing rights to develop what will become one of the world's largest floating offshore wind farms off the east coast of Scotland.

The partnership involves the leading renewable energy developer in Scotland, SSE Renewables, Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni) and Danish fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

The SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP project is in the E1 Zone in the Firth of Forth off the Angus Coast and is one of the largest lease areas offered by Crown Estate Scotland to any bidder in the ScotWind process. The site is suitable for the deployment of floating offshore wind turbines to deliver up to 2.6GW of new installed capacity – enough to be capable of powering almost 4.3 million Scottish homes and offsetting around 5 million tonnes of harmful carbon emissions each year.

A significant amount of pre-award survey work was undertaken by the SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP team and now a major new geophysical survey commenced last week. A team from Ocean Infinity, being mobilised from Montrose, will embark on a 100-day mission to collect approximately 5,300 line kilometers of geophysical and bathymetric data along with benthic sampling. The team will conduct their work from the dedicated survey vessel, the Northern Maria. Other work underway includes the commencement of our second year of Baseline Ornithological and Marine Mammal Aerial Surveys, as well as co-ordination and mobilising wider regional eastern aerial surveys in co-operation with other East 1 and East 2 ScotWind developers.

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David Hinshelwood, Senior Project Manager At SSE Renewables, said: "It is great to have a signed option agreement for our project, the result of a huge amount of work from our team. Progress is really ramping up and critical work like our geophysical survey which is underway will support our consenting plans allowing us to understand ground conditions and environmental habitats over our lease area. We are looking forward to continuing to utilise the strength of our partnership with Marubeni and CIP to deliver up to 2.6GW of new floating offshore wind."

Nils Ingvarson, Commercial Lead At Ocean Infinity, said: "We are very proud to be part of this pivotal offshore wind project that will ensure the supply of renewable energy to so many homes. The ScotWind development is a real milestone for the industry, not only because of the role it will play in the UK's transition to renewable energy, but because it is the first major, full-scale floating offshore wind project, and one which we're very excited to be involved with at this crucial, formative stage."

First generation is targeted before the end of the decade and when complete, the project will help position Scotland as a global leader in floating offshore wind technology and will pave the way for substantial economic and social benefits worth billions of pounds for Scotland.