On Wednesday 8th February 2023, a Brittany-Scotland business day dedicated to floating wind turbines was organised at the Ille et Vilaine Chambres de Commerce et d’Industrie de Bretagne (CCI).

Brittany and Scotland are seeking to consolidate their leadership on the European scene through collaboration on the French and Scottish markets and more generally in Europe. In order to create partnerships between SMEs in the two territories, the Brittany and Scottish clusters Bretagne Ocean Power and DeepWind are organising exchanges to enable companies to pool and strengthen their complementarity.

A delegation of fifteen Scottish companies met in Rennes with companies from the Brittany offshore wind and marine energy sector. This meeting was in line with the development of partnerships around floating wind turbines. It was an opportunity for Breton companies to meet the major contractors Skyborn Renewables, Vattenfall & BlueFloat Energy, two of whom are winners of the Scottish ScotWind tender. These three players are also candidates for the various French tenders, including the AO5 in South Brittany, in consortium with the Triskéol project.

These exchanges follow meetings between the elected representatives of the Brittany Region and Scottish ministers before the signature of a cooperation agreement between Brittany and Scotland. The aim is to strengthen the partnerships between these two actors of the Celtic arc in the field of renewable energy. Exchanges will continue during the Celtic Summit in Lorient on 9 and 10 March, in which Ireland, Wales and Asturias will also participate.

Scotland and Brittany are two players at the forefront of floating wind development in Europe. The two territories have the advantage of having floating wind projects leased with ScotWind, the AO5 and the future AO9, as well as specialist companies. They also have complementary supply chains and similar issues concerning the development of their port infrastructures.