Odfjell Oceanwind acquires Ørsted’s share in the Salamander floating offshore windfarm

Having completed the deal, Odfjell Oceanwind said it will work together with the remaining shareholders in the Salamander project, Simply Blue Group and Subsea 7, to continue development it into a demonstration project for commercial-scale floating offshore wind.

Salamander is a 100-MW floating offshore wind project in Scotland, located 35 km off Peterhead. The project was awarded an exclusivity agreement for a seabed lease by Crown Estate Scotland in the INTOG leasing round and recently received section 36 consent from the Scottish government. Salamander has adopted Odfjell Oceanwind’s Deepsea Star semisubmersible steel foundation for the project.

Odfjell Oceanwind chief executive Per Lund said, “Innovation projects are essential to derisk floating offshore wind technology and the supply chain prior to embarking on larger projects like those in ScotWind and many of the INTOG projects that are due to be operational in the 2030s.

“Odfjell Oceanwind has closely monitored the UK market for several years and sees the country’s commitment to net zero and well-established framework conditions, including annual CfD rounds, as investor-friendly features.

“The UK has become a global leader in offshore wind, and we are very excited that Odfjell Oceanwind is establishing a presence in Scotland, where our sister companies Odfjell Technology and Odfjell Drilling have been present since the 1980s.”

Mr Lund continued, “Acquisition of a share in the Salamander project is a key part of our ambition to make floating wind relevant and commercial through the gradual scale-up in project and wind turbine sizes before reaching utility scale. It is a natural stepping stone from our recent announcement of the ScaleWind project, where we secured a slot with a 24-MW grid connection at the Marine Energy Test Centre in Norway with the ambition of installing a fullscale floating offshore wind turbine in 2028.

“Working closely with our Salamander partners, we intend to demonstrate to key stakeholders that floating technology and the supply chain are ready to deliver cost-competitive projects at scale.”