Salamander Wind Project Company, a joint venture (JV) of Ørsted, Simply Blue Group, and Subsea7, has secured planning permission in principle for the onshore elements of its proposed 100MW floating wind farm in Scotland.
The project will be located 35km off Peterhead, on Scotland’s East Coast.
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Submitted to Aberdeenshire Council in August 2024, the application sought consent for the onshore substation and associated infrastructure. The submission was made under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.
The team is now waiting for the final approval of these essential elements for the wind farm.
A second application, submitted to the Energy Consents Unit of the Scottish Government, is advancing.
This concerns the energy balancing infrastructure, including a battery storage system to stabilise the electricity grid. The application has now been validated and is progressing through the assessment process.
Salamander is also awaiting a decision from the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate regarding its Section 36 consent for the offshore array and associated licences.
The Salamander offshore wind farm was a successful bidder in the Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
In May 2023, the company signed an exclusivity agreement for a seabed lease, representing a key advancement for the project.
Salamander project director Hugh Yendole said: “We have achieved a number of significant ‘firsts’ with this consent – the first combined onshore substation and battery consent and the first consent of any of the innovation projects awarded exclusivity agreements under INTOG.
“It is also worth noting that the joint venture team that delivered this consent did so under somewhat challenging conditions, especially differentiating Salamander’s low-impact grid connection from the profusion of GW-scale infrastructure that is planned.”
