The Salamander Offshore Wind Farm, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, has announced it has opened the second phase of its call for supplier innovations.
The project, a 100 MW floating offshore wind development (and 100MW onshore EBI, a battery storage facility) located approx. 35km off the coast of Peterhead, has committed to providing opportunities for domestic supply chain participation throughout construction and operation.
Through a dedicated supplier and innovation pathway, originally launched in 2021 and now being refreshed, organisations can have a direct route for project consideration. This second call opens on the 3rd of December 2024 and can be accessed until the 14th of January 2025, through the Salamander website.
At this time, five areas of interest have been outlined by the Salamander team. These include:
- Construction and operational health and safety,
- Wind turbine foundation integration,
- Novel anchor technology,
- Low carbon materials and processes
- Construction vessel optimisation.
It is hoped the outcome will be the selection of multiple suppliers who will undergo technical evaluation of unique or novel solutions. This will create a platform for suppliers to demonstrate the benefit of their innovation in direct comparison with current solutions being taken through the project’s engineering process.
Salamander, a stepping-stone to ScotWind floating developments, has been designed to allow for the Scottish supply chain to gear-up and de-risk in preparation for larger commercial scale opportunities. By enabling domestic organisations to test innovative or novel floating-related technologies on a smaller scale, the wind industry will benefit from seeing what works and what needs to be streamlined.
Tom Brown, Innovation Manager said: 'We want to be engaging with the right people at the right time within our project development. From a technical perspective, we have already undertaken our concept and pre-FEED engineering stages, so we’re in a better position now to identify solutions that will address project challenges. Not only is an exciting time to be involved in the floating wind sector, moreover it is an excitingtime to be part of the supply chain. It’s been a long time coming for these opportunities to be presented to smaller, local organisations and we’re pleased to be part of that while making the project the best it can be.'
Hugh Yendole, Project Director, added: 'We often discuss the role of our stepping-stone project as being a way to prime the supply chain for the floating roll-out in Scotland and beyond. This entails onboarding the supply chain in a timely manner, giving local organisations the opportunity to be part of this journey and capitalise on the potential economic benefits through their innovations.
A 100 MW innovation seabed lease was awarded to the Salamander project by Crown Estate Scotland under their INTOG leasing round. Construction is planned to commence in 2027 with operations beginning in 2029.
The call will be launched at a webinar hosted by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) at 10am on Tuesday 3rd December. Please register to attend on our website.
About Salamander Floating Offshore Wind
The 100 MW Salamander floating wind project, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, will be a major contributor to ensuring the UK government’s target of delivering 5 GW of operational floating offshore wind by 2030 is both achievable and to the maximum benefit of public and private stakeholders.
The pioneering project, located 35 km off Peterhead on the East Coast of Scotland, is designed to provide the Scottish supply chain with an early capacity development opportunity, enabling it to play a much greater role in subsequent large-scale floating offshore wind buildout.
The project will deploy innovative and cutting-edge floating offshore wind technologies to support the cost reduction and learning journey needed for the commercial deployment of floating offshore wind.
In May 2023, Salamander signed an exclusivity agreement as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
The 100 MW project will be a contributor in the delivery of the Scottish Government’s target 11 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and the UK Government’s target of 5 GW of operational floating offshore wind by the same date.
Further information concerning the proposed floating offshore wind farm can be found at: www.salamanderfloatingwind.com
Source: Salamander Offshore Wind Farm