Salamander offshore wind farm, a project being developed by the Salamander Wind Project Company Ltd, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, has been awarded planning permission in principle for the onshore aspects of its proposed floating development, located 35 km off Peterhead on the East Coast of Scotland.
The submission was made to Aberdeenshire Council for the onshore substation and associated infrastructure in August 2024 under the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997. A second application, to the Energy Consents Unit of the Scottish government for the wind farm’s energy balancing infrastructure includes a battery storage that will help to balance the electricity grid, has now been validated and is progressing through assessment. Salamander is also awaiting a decision from the Scottish government’s Marine Directorate on their Section 36 award for the offshore array and associated licenses.
This is a key step in the project’s timeline as the focus turns to the onshore elements of the development, which will generate enough green energy to power 100 000 Scottish homes once operational.
Hugh Yendole, Project Director for Salamander, said: “We are incredibly proud to have secured an almost-unheard-of unanimous approval in record time – only seven months after submission. 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 gigawatt scale infrastructure that is planned.
“It’s a testament to the dedicated professionals in the Salamander project team that plotted the path to consent and delivered one of – if not – the best onshore consent applications that I have seen. The Planning Committee agreed.”
The Salamander offshore wind farm was a successful Innovation bidder in Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, signing an exclusivity agreement for a seabed lease in May 2023. The INTOG round awarded exclusivity agreements for seabed leases for two types of projects – small scale floating wind innovation projects of up to 100 MW, and larger projects aiming to decarbonise oil and gas infrastructure. Salamander bid for and won an exclusivity agreement under the innovation category.
When remaining consents are granted by Scottish government, Salamander will support the scale-up of the Scottish floating wind supply chain, helping to de-risk the INTOG and ScotWind pipelines so Scotland can seize the economic opportunity on offer.
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