Macquarie-owned clean-energy investment house the Green Investment Group (GIG) is partnering with Scottish offshore wind developer Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG) to compete in the long-delayed ScotWind North Sea leasing round.

GIG, which evolved out of the UK government’s Green Investment Bank in 2017, has supported 16 offshore wind projects totalling over 4.5GW of operating capacity to date globally. Edinburgh-based RIDG launched three years ago with the aim of advancing large-scale projects that will “create significant opportunities for the Scottish supply chain and the economy”.

“GIG is proud of its Scottish heritage and I’m delighted that RIDG and GIG are working from our home in Edinburgh to unlock Scotland’s fantastic offshore wind resource,” said Ed Northam, head of GIG Europe.

“By partnering right at the genesis of development, we’re making our earliest commitment in UK offshore wind so far. Our flexible approach to investment is perfectly complemented by our partnership with RIDG, who bring with them a fantastic team to supplement our own development expertise.”

RIDG commercial director Mike Hay said: “RIDG’s local development experience perfectly complements GIG’s global reach and ambition. This partnership is already proving to be a fast, flexible and responsive approach to development that will be vital if Scotland is to unlock its industrial potential.

“Together, we are answering the Scottish government’s call for new companies to enter the offshore wind market [with the ScotWind leasing round] – bringing new ways of structuring and developing projects, which boosts competition, drives innovation and unlocks new sources of investment.”

Across the UK, GIG has supported over 110 clean-energy projects, including 19 in Scotland, most recently acquiring a $2bn stake in Iberdrola’s giant East Anglia 1 offshore wind development.

The highly anticipated ScotWind tender has been postponed twice, with details of the round originally scheduled to be released by Crown Estate Scotland in October 2019, is the country's first offshore wind leasing round in a decade.

Once awarded, the projects will underpin development of up to 10GW of ocean energy off the coast of Aberdeen, north-east of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands areas. The floating wind sector has been particularly keen on advancing its UK expansion via the tender, with a GIG spokesman confirming to Recharge that though it was an “early stage” in its plans, it was “keeping all technology options open”.

“We would note that the ScotWind process is intended to drive innovation, and this is something we will be giving consideration to in our joint bid,” he said.

Wind

Investment giant Macquarie links with Scottish start-up for North Sea wind bid