Scotland’s offshore wind auction winners asked to file formal assurances on no ties with Russia

Crown Estate Scotland has requested the winners of the ScotWind offshore wind auction to submit formal, written assurances that they will adhere, at all times, to the relevant sanctions imposed on Russia.

“Crown Estate Scotland is committed to taking all appropriate action to not support trade and investment activity with Russia”, Scotland’s seabed manager states. “In early March, we carried out an initial check of applicants for Russian ownership and / or registration. This did not uncover any Russian ownership or registration”.

Following the initial check, Crown Estate Scotland is now requesting formal assurance from all applicants and project partners involved in each of the 17 applications that they will adhere to the relevant sanctions regimes.

Crown Estate Scotland said that it would take appropriate action in case it does nor receive sufficient assurance, and that all applicants who secure an option agreement would be required to adhere to relevant sanctions throughout the term of their agreements.

The seabed authority has also asked for details of any Russian or Belarussian interests and steps that are being taken to divest of those interests.

Crown Estate Scotland selected 17 projects though its ScotWind round in January, with most of the developers who won the auction being consortia of different project partners.

Among the successful bidders is Shell, which bought a cargo of Russian crude oil last week and apologised on 8 March for this action, pledging to withdraw from all Russian hydrocarbons.

The biggest single project awarded through the latest ScotWind round is a 3 GW floating wind proposal by Iberdrola’s Scottish Power Renewables, followed by a bottom-fixed 2.9 GW project led by BP.

The list of successful bidders also includes Ocean Winds, Vattenfall, SSE Renewables, Falck Renewables, DEME, BayWa, Northland Power, Magnora Offshore Wind, and a joint venture between Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), TotalEnergies, and RIDG – some of which have secured multiple sites.

According to Crown Estate Scotland, project partners are subject to sanctions imposed by the state in which they are registered. UK registered entities will need to confirm they adhere to UK sanctions, while entities registered in another state will need to confirm that they adhere to the sanctions imposed by that state.

“We continue to work closely with Scottish Government to ensure we are fully informed and taking appropriate action in what is a rapidly evolving situation”, Crown Estate Scotland said.