ScotWind: Thistle Wind Partners consortium selects RPS for offshore wind project environmental assessment

Thistle Wind Partners (a consortium of Deme, Qair and Aspiravi) is developing two new Scottish offshore wind farms in the ScotWind programme: a 1GW floating project located 33km from Orkney (E3) and a 1GW fixed-foundation project lying 47km off Aberdeen (NE2).

RPS has been selected to provide consenting support services and to complete Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Habitats Regulation Assessments (HRA) for Thistle Wind Partners, a consortium of DEME Concessions (Wind) NV, Qair Marine SAS and Aspiravi International NV. The consortium brings together a strong team of offshore wind development expertise to successfully deliver two offshore wind farms, one fixed and one floating, each with a potential generating capacity of approximately 1GW.

The consortium was awarded two option areas in the highly competitive ScotWind leasing process - Scotland's first in over a decade. Of 74 applications, 20 were selected, enabling the Scottish government's ambition to deliver an additional 27.6GW of electricity from offshore wind.

TWP plans to make local content a key focus, helping to develop related supply chains and expertise.

Nicola Simpson, Technical Director, Offshore Wind, said, "Our team is delighted to support and advise on this project as Thistle Wind Partners expand in Scotland and the UK. This is an exciting time for the Scottish offshore wind industry, with the government's commitment to growth and energy transition and the entry of innovative new partnerships into the offshore wind development space. We have been supporting these projects through the bid process and the since the leases were awarded, and Thistle Wind Partners' experience and track record of developing renewables and offshore assets is definitely bringing exciting new thinking to the UK industry. Working with them builds on our two decades of experience of helping to deliver all offshore and onshore elements for offshore wind."

The RPS team are based in Edinburgh and Aberdeen and offer some of Scotland's most up-to-date offshore wind consenting experience. We have a 20-year history delivering renewables projects in the United Kingdom, including leading offshore consenting and licence activities for Scotland's Berwick Bank Wind Farm.