Crown Estate Scotland supports green innovation and a net-zero future

Tackling climate change both locally and globally is an ambition shared by many – and Scotland’s maritime heritage, seabed resource, and size make it the perfect testbed for technology and supply chain innovation.

We manage most of the seabed around Scotland. Importantly, given the increasing spatial pressure on seabed, we take a plan-led approach to awarding leases and other agreements for a range of renewable energy technologies.

The ScotWind leasing round – which resulted in 20 offshore wind projects totalling up to 28GW of new generating capacity – sparked interest around the world, both because of scale and extensive use of floating turbine technology, but also because of its innovative supply chain requirements that will provide critical early-stage information to grow the supply chain.

Similarly pioneering is our Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process. This allowed developers to apply for seabed rights to develop offshore wind projects that either reduce emissions from the North Sea oil and gas sector – by supplying renewable electricity directly to oil and gas infrastructure (TOG) – or consist of small-scale (IN) innovative projects of 100MW or less.

This distinctive offshore wind leasing is different to any other previously carried out in the UK or in the world.

INTOG, which has been designed in response to demand from government and industry to help achieve the targets of the North Sea Transition Sector Deal through decarbonising North Sea oil and gas operations, will also further stimulate innovation in Scotland’s offshore wind sector, create additional supply chain opportunity, help companies to enter the renewable energy market, and support net-zero ambitions.