Question reference: S6W-08315
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 19 May 2022
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all the information that it holds on the market value testing of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind sales process, which launched in June 2020 with the pre-defined option fee levels of £2,000/km2, £6,000/km2 or £10,000km2.
Answer
Crown Estate Scotland have not sold seabed through the ScotWind leasing process. Option Agreements and ultimately leases to use areas of the seabed for offshore wind energy generation have been provided, raising around £700 million in initial fees and potentially many millions more in rent, once these projects are operational. If projects do not proceed to full lease, the option agreements expire. Furthermore, through the Supply Chain Development Statements, ScotWind developers will invest an average of £1.5 billion in Scotland for each project – across the 17 different sites, that could lead to more than £25 billion of investment.
As per S6W-08314 on 7 June 2022, Crown Estate Scotland conducted market testing and evidence gathering to inform option fee levels and this is not information held by Scottish Government. Following the announcement of The Crown Estate’s Round 4 results and a very clear change in the market, Crown Estate Scotland paused and reviewed the ScotWind option fee levels accordingly.
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