Scottish government in line for near-£700m payday after windfarm auction

Scottish government in line for near-£700m payday after windfarm auction

The Scottish government is in line for a windfall of almost £700m after the largest ever auction of the country’s seabed plots attracted bids from big oil and renewable energy companies hoping to build next generation windfarms.

Crown Estate Scotland will grant permission for oil companies including BP and Shell, renewable energy veterans Scottish Power and SSE, to lease the Scottish seabed to build enough windfarms to power the equivalent of 23m UK homes a year.

The auction awarded seabed permits to 17 windfarm projects, out of more than 70 bidders, which will lay the foundation for companies to develop new wind power farms two-and-a-half times the size of the UK’s existing offshore wind fleet, and equal to Europe’s current combined capacity.