The Scottish Government has set a new target for offshore wind capacity of 11GW by 2030, supporting the delivery of Scotland’s 2017 Energy Strategy and the decarbonisation of heat and transport and has been agreed following an extensive consultation with industry, stakeholders, coastal communities and environmental organisations.

The new goal will help the UK meet its overall target of delivering 40GW of offshore wind energy by 2030. The move follows recent calls by the offshore wind energy industry to raise the Scottish target from an existing 8GW in order to meet the UK’s new 2030 ambition.

There has also been confirmation that there will be a second offshore wind energy leasing round for new seabed opportunities in Scottish waters in 2022/23.

Commenting on the new target, Jim Smith, MD of SSE Renewables, commented: “Meeting our net-zero obligation in Scotland by 2045 requires all of us with responsibility to help decarbonise society to do everything we can to support this primary goal. We also welcome the Scottish Government’s recognition that these are challenging targets and that the barriers to deployment which would prevent us meeting them need to be addressed. These include overcoming challenges to enable timely grid connections, ensure we have a skilled workforce, develop a smooth and predictable planning process, and create a sustainable long-term market design for investment.”

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