Crown Estate Scotland announced it will launch a new leasing process for offshore wind farms to help decarbonise Scotland’s oil and gas sector.

The announcement follows the opening of the Scottish Government’s consultation on a new planning process which will “inform the areas to be made available” for seabed leases.

“This process is entirely separate to the ScotWind Leasing round currently under way for commercial scale offshore wind projects across Scotland, and is specifically designed for offshore wind farms which support the decarbonisation of the oil and gas sector, as well as small scale innovation projects of less than 100MW,” said Crown Estate Scotland.

“Crown Estate Scotland plans to open the leasing process for applications in early 2022.

“Successful applicants will then be granted exclusivity over relevant areas of seabed, with final Option Agreements put in place following the adoption of the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas decarbonisation Offshore Wind Sectoral Marine Plan by the Scottish Government.”

Crown Estate Scotland director of marine Colin Palmer said: “This is an exciting development for the offshore wind sector which can play an important role in supporting the decarbonisation of Scotland’s oil and gas sector as we work towards net zero.”

Oil and Gas Authority director of operations Scott Robertson said: “Power generation accounts for around two thirds of oil and gas production emissions.

“The electrification of oil and gas installations is vital if industry is going to meet its 2027 and 2030 decarbonisation targets agreed in the North Sea Transition Deal.

“This is a big opportunity for industry to lower its carbon footprint while investing in offshore infrastructure to support the faster growth of wind power in Scottish Waters, all contributing to UK net zero.”