The Scottish National Investment Bank has joined the UK’s National Wealth Fund and Great British Energy in making a significant investment towards a major floating offshore wind project, supporting the country’s clean energy ambitions and bolstering energy security.

Each investor has secured an initial stake in the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm, located off the coast of Dounreay, with the option to invest up to £50 million as the project progresses.

“The offshore wind potential in Scotland is considerable both as a source of energy and, particularly with floating, to export our supply chain,” said Mark Munro, chief investment officer for the SNIB.

“However, substantial investment is needed to capitalise on the opportunity and ensure it delivers transformational impact for our economy and our communities.”

Once up and running, the site, which is majority owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, will have the capacity to generate enough green electricity to power up to 70,000 homes, with more than 1,000 jobs expected to be created and supported throughout construction and operation. 

Led by Highland Wind Limited, the project aims to fast-track floating offshore wind using advanced technologies, with the latest round of funding labelled as evidence of how public finance can back the clean energy sector, and crowd in with private capital to support emerging energy technologies.

Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) projects hold huge potential for the UK’s energy market, which has been identified as one of the top markets in terms of readiness for investment, with the industry being especially important to Scotland as it pivots from a historic reliance on oil and gas.

Scotland’s current offshore wind capacity target is between 8-11 GW within the next five years, but the Scottish Government has recently suggested the country might have the capacity to deliver 40GW of electricity by 2040, enough to power millions more homes.

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Floating offshore wind farms would form a critical component in realising this ambition, representing 60% of the potential energy pipeline.

“We are leading the way in the floating wind sector but are ambitious to go further and take full advantage of the economic opportunities Scotland’s natural resources and technical expertise provide,” said the deputy first minister, Kate Forbes.  

“That is why we are investing up to £500 million over five years in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to growing the offshore wind sector, which is expected to leverage additional private investment of £1.5 billion.”

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