Announced on 25 September, Crown Estate Scotland confirmed plans to hold the launch of ScotWind Leasing until after the publication of Marine Scotland’s draft Sectoral Marine Plan (SMP), which is expected in Autumn 2019.
The process is set to pave the way for the development of the next round of offshore wind projects in Scottish waters, where aligning timescales with the SMP will “help to ensure maximum transparency and fairness from the beginning” and deliver confidence to stakeholders.
The deadline for applications will also be after the release of the SMP to provide certainty to developers regarding the sites in the final plan.