Hugh Yendole, Project Director at Salamander

A joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7 has retrieved floating LiDARs and wave buoy equipment as part of the metocean campaign for the proposed Salamander floating offshore wind farm off the North East of Scotland.

The campaign started in October 2023 with the deployment of two floating SEAWATCH Wind Lidar Buoys and a Wavescan buoy, which gathered meteorological, oceanographic, and environmental site data.

The data, including wave height, wind and current speed and other region-specific metrics, will enable a comprehensive assessment of the site’s characteristics and seasonal conditions, and inform the project’s design, operations, and maintenance strategy.

“This is a key success in the delivery of our innovation project. As a stepping-stone development, Salamander will use pioneering floating offshore wind technologies to help Scotland and the UK progress towards a net-zero future. The data gathered through this survey will determine the most appropriate next steps for the development of the project”, said Hugh Yendole, Project Director at Salamander.

The 100 MW Salamander floating wind farm is one of the 13 projects selected in Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round. The developers of the innovation projects under the INTOG round signed exclusivity agreements with Crown Estate Scotland in May 2023.

The joint venture submitted an offshore consent application for Salamander in May 2024 and applied for consent for the onshore portion of the floating wind project in October last year.

The floating wind farm is planned to be built at a site located 35 kilometres off the coast of Peterhead and, with an installed capacity of 100 MW, to generate enough green energy to power 100,000 Scottish homes.