UAE-based Lamprell secures deal to provide floating foundations for £10bn Scottish wind farm

UK firms have missed out on the chance to develop three 1GW offshore floating wind farms, with US energy services firm NOV opting for UAE-based Lamprell to support the project.

The farms are being developed for Cerulean Winds, which revealed last year the project would cost in excess of £10bn.

NOV was named as the first of Cerulean’s major delivery partners for the development and will act as the exclusive provider of floating and mooring systems.

It has decided to use Lamprell as its provider for the fabrication, assembly and outfitting in the construction of the NOV-designed trifloaters.

The trifloaters will be be used as floating foundations for the three wind farms.

In June 2021, Cerulean applied to develop a 3GW+ floating wind turbine project at sites West of Shetland and in the Central North Sea.

The 200-turbine project will rival Dogger Bank in size, which is soon to be the largest wind project in the world.

The site will have the capacity to offset over nine of 18m tonnes of CO2 expected emitted from the region by mid-decade, while having surplus clean energy production to channel ashore to fuel an onshore hydrogen facilities.

If approved, the project is anticipated to be commissioned in 2026.

Christopher McDonald, chief executive of Lamprell said: “Offshore floating wind is a natural progression for the business and represents another step in the realisation of our strategy and establishing our credentials in the UK market. We look forward to supporting NOV in the development of this transformational project for the industry and Scotland.” 

The developments follow the publication of the UK’s energy strategy, with the government targeting a quintupling offshore wind capacity from 11GW to 50GW by the end of the decade.

It also comes hot on the heels of Lamprell securing a £150m deal for the Moray wind farm last month – with UK firms again missing out.

GMB Scotland organiser Gary Cook told industry publication Energy Voice he was “disgusted” by the developments.

He questioned whether the government would reach pledged targets for 60 per cent of content in UK renewable projects to be developed in the UK.

Cook said: “We’ve got the skills in Scotland, we’ve got the skills in the UK. We just need a willingness from Westminster and the Scottish Government to draw a line in the sand and say ‘you want to put these things up, you want our subsidies? The majority of this content must be manufactured in the UK.’”