A Scottish offshore wind farm, seeking to deliver a £1bn opportunity for the supply chain, has submitted its onshore planning application.
Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm, planned for 44 km off Stonehaven in North East Scotland, has submitted the planning application for planning permission in principle for the onshore infrastructure of the Project to Aberdeenshire Council.
The submission covers the elements from the landfall point near Benholm, underground cable corridor, onshore substation and proposed connection to the planned Hurlie substation at Fetteresso Forest, where the wind farm supplied power enters the National Grid.
This project milestone follows the completion of a comprehensive optioneering exercise, Environmental Impact Assessment and extensive public consultations and engagement with local communities and stakeholders in North East Scotland.
It also comes after a decision earlier this month to establish an operations and maintenance (O&M) base in North East Scotland, delivering £360m of spend and around 60 long-term, high-quality jobs.
Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm, being delivered by Thistle Wind Partners, will deliver power to more than one million homes once operational. The project’s offshore consent submission will follow in 2026.
Ian Taylor, Bowdun Project Director, said:
'Submitting our onshore application is a significant step forward for Bowdun and the region. We’ve worked closely with communities and stakeholders to shape these plans, ensuring they are responsible, clearly explained and designed to bring long-term benefits to the North East.
With our O&M investment and our award-winning supply chain programme, Bowdun aims to anchor new jobs, skills and opportunity in the region as Scotland accelerates its clean energy transition.'
Bowdun’s award-winning Supply Chain Pathways Programme aims to break down barriers for Scottish firms, including oil and gas specialists, entering the offshore wind industry, which is often dominated by major 'Tier 1' contractors with established supply chains.
The project will use its partner DEME Offshore - a Tier 1 contractor with experience installing 2,500 offshore wind turbines globally - to pre-qualify local firms as suppliers. These companies will then be able to compete for work not only on Bowdun, but also on other DEME Offshore projects in the UK and internationally. The programme has involved 60 companies to-date.
Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm
The Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm will be built in the E3 leasing zone. This is a 187 sq km area of seabed located about 44km from Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire.
Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) submitted a bid for the option to lease this area of seabed during the ScotWind leasing round, where Crown Estate Scotland invited offshore wind developers to put forward proposals for wind farm projects around the coasts of Scotland.
In January 2022, Crown Estate Scotland announced that our bid to build a wind farm (later named the Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm after a headland on the Aberdeenshire coast) was successful. We were also awarded a lease option to build the Ayre Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Orkney.
The Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm is expected to connect to the electricity transmission network in Aberdeenshire to the transmission operators substation in the vicinity of Fetteresso Forest.
Source: Thistle Wind Partners
