Project Summary
Enabled by the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) Scottish leasing round, Cerulean has been awarded exclusivity to enter an option agreement for the 333 km2 Aspen site in March 2023, under a 50-year term.
Aspen will be first of the three Cerulean sites to be built with the development of Beech and Cedar following. The combined NSRG has the potential to deliver 3+GW of renewable power.
The Aspen Project is uniquely aligned with both UK and Scottish Government policy, being instrumental in meeting the Clean Power 2030 goals, helping to achieve the North Sea decarbonisation targets, and establishing the FLOW supply chain in the UK.
- Substantial direct industrial emissions reduction for the Oil & Gas sector from co-located large-scale offshore wind generation
- Explicit delivery strategy founded on proven infrastructure principles to expedite and assure build schedule to COD
- Significant Scottish and wider UK economic benefit through early commitment to the Scottish and UK supply chain, built into this delivery strategy from the outset
The 1GW Aspen Project is currently in advanced development phase to build out to 1GW by 2030.
Situated in the Central North Sea (CNS), the Aspen site benefits from high wind resource (wind capacity factor of >60%) and is in close proximity to a high density of Oil and Gas (O&G) assets enabling electrification of oil and gas producing facilities and reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions.
Located approximately 100km from shore, the site is well positioned to connect to the UK grid via an HVAC transmission system.
The Aspen site is set to connect to the UK onshore grid as early as 2028, with National Energy System Operator (NESO) designating the Fetteresso sub-station in Aberdeenshire as the preferred connection point.
Supported by GoBe, consenting and permitting is well progressed and Aspen is on track to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in summer 2025. Based on work undertaken to date, no material adverse issues have been identified.
Cerulean has adopted a unique Alliance-based delivery model for the Aspen Project, selecting world-class Tier 1 partners with technical expertise and experience in delivering large scale offshore projects. The approach has been focused to maximise Scottish and UK content with the Ardersier port already selected.
The Aspen Project design philosophy allows for incremental turbine units to be built-out to satisfy O&G demand on an “as-ready” basis, which allows oil and gas operators to connect to a reliable green power source when they have completed necessary facility electrification modifications, enabling those operators to meet the North Sea Transition Deal (NSTD) decarbonisation objectives.
The Aspen Project is ready and capable of delivering FLOW for the UK pre-2030, supporting the Government’s ambitious growth plans of 5GW of FLOW by 2030.