The Salamander Offshore Wind Farm, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and
Subsea7, has announced it has opened the second phase of its call for supplier innovations.
The project, a 100 MW floating offshore wind development (and 100MW onshore EBI, a battery
storage facility) located approximately 35km off the coast of Peterhead, has committed to
providing opportunities for domestic supply chain participation throughout construction and
operation.
Through a dedicated supplier and innovation pathway, originally launched in 2021 and now
being refreshed, organisations can have a direct route for project consideration. This second call
opens on the 3rd of December 2024 and can be accessed until the 14th of January 2025,
through the Salamander website (www.salamanderfloatingwind.com).
At this time, five areas of interest have been outlined by the Salamander team. These include:
• Construction and operational health and safety,
• Wind turbine foundation integration,
• Novel anchor technology,
• Low carbon materials and processes
• Construction vessel optimisation.
It is hoped the outcome will be the selection of multiple suppliers who will undergo technical
evaluation of unique or novel solutions. This will create a platform for suppliers to demonstrate
the benefit of their innovation in direct comparison with current solutions being taken through
the project’s engineering process.
Salamander, a stepping-stone to ScotWind floating developments, has been designed to allow
for the Scottish supply chain to gear-up and de-risk in preparation for larger commercial scale
opportunities. By enabling domestic organisations to test innovative or novel floating-related
technologies on a smaller scale, the wind industry will benefit from seeing what works and what
needs to be streamlined.
Tom Brown, Innovation Manager said: “We want to be engaging with the right people at the
right time within our project development. From a technical perspective, we have already
undertaken our concept and pre-FEED engineering stages, so we’re in a better position now to
identify solutions that will address project challenges.
“Not only is an exciting time to be involved in the floating wind sector, moreover it is an exciting
time to be part of the supply chain. It’s been a long time coming for these opportunities to be
presented to smaller, local organisations and we’re pleased to be part of that while making the
project the best it can be.”
Hugh Yendole, Project Director, added: “We often discuss the role of our stepping-stone project
as being a way to prime the supply chain for the floating roll-out in Scotland and beyond. This
entails onboarding the supply chain in a timely manner, giving local organisations the opportunity
to be part of this journey and capitalise on the potential economic benefits through their
innovations.
A 100 MW innovation seabed lease was awarded to the Salamander project by Crown Estate
Scotland under their INTOG leasing round. Construction is planned to commence in 2027 with
operations beginning in 2029.
The call will be launched at a webinar hosted by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) at
10am on Tuesday 3rd December. Please register to attend on our website.
About Salamander Floating Offshore Wind
The 100 MW Salamander floating wind project, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue
Group and Subsea7, will be a major contributor to ensuring the UK government’s target of
delivering 5 GW of operational floating offshore wind by 2030 is both achievable and to the
maximum benefit of public and private stakeholders.
The pioneering project, located 35 km off Peterhead on the East Coast of Scotland, is designed to
provide the Scottish supply chain with an early capacity development opportunity, enabling it to
play a much greater role in subsequent large-scale floating offshore wind buildout.
The project will deploy innovative and cutting-edge floating offshore wind technologies to support
the cost reduction and learning journey needed for the commercial deployment of floating
offshore wind.
In May 2023, Salamander signed an exclusivity agreement as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s
Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
The 100 MW project will be a contributor in the delivery of the Scottish Government’s target 11
GW of offshore wind by 2030 and the UK Government’s target of 5 GW of operational floating
offshore wind by the same date.
