Marine Scotland consulting on using offshore wind to decarbonise oil & gas sector

Marine Scotland has launched consultation on the potential opportunities for offshore wind innovation and projects to assist in decarbonising the oil and gas sector, which could be included in the future leasing process.

The Scottish Government has started working on a new Sectoral Marine Plan round for Offshore Wind for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG), within which it will identify areas for future offshore wind development which will help to decarbonise the oil and gas sector through the replacement of traditional energy sources with renewable energy.

The round will also examine opportunities for innovation projects in Scottish waters.

The Planning Specification and Context Report which the Government has now put up for consultation sets out the parameters for the planning process and the information and spatial analysis carried out to identify Areas of Search for future leasing opportunities.

Among other things, the report states that floating wind technology is particularly well suited to the deeper water abundant around Scotland and in the vicinity of oil and gas infrastructure.

The consultation on this report and the Areas of Search will be open until 20 October 2021.

Source: Offshore Energy Today