Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) is an Edinburgh-based business, founded with a focus on Scottish offshore wind development. We are currently developing 2GW of floating and fixed-foundation offshore wind capacity at our ScotWind leasing sites: the Ayre Offshore Wind Farm (Orkney) and the Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm (Aberdeenshire). Our founder companies – DEME Group, Qair, and Aspiravi – bring experience from a global renewables portfolio that is distinguished by offshore engineering excellence and a track record of delivering local economic benefit.
TWP Podcast
4 - 5 October 2023 Aberdeen
Our ScotWind projects
Our two ScotWind projects, currently in the environmental impact assessment development and planning phases, are:
Image: Bowdun Head and Dunnottar Castle on the Aberdeenshire coast. Credit: Elaine Stewart.
Our Wind Farms
1. Ayre Offshore Wind Farm
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2. Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm
HOW WE WORK
TWP’s founders have forged a successful track record in engaging local content in their renewables projects across the world.
Both Qair and DEME have supported ports in building capacity for renewables, as at Port La-Nouvelle in France, and Qair has achieved majority local content at its Eolmed Floating Wind Farm in the Mediterranean.
In Belgium, DEME was a partner and shareholder in the development of Renewable Energy Base Ostend (REBO), which is now a heavyweight terminal for project cargo, offshore construction and decommissioning of offshore installations (oil and gas, renewables).
For our Scottish offshore wind farms, our ambition is to spend £2.4 billion of our budget in the Scottish supply chain by 2033. To support this goal, we are looking to expand our Scottish academic partnerships and supply chain in the coming years.
To find out more, you can read our Supply Chain Development Outlook Statements for Ayre Offshore Wind Farm and Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm.
OUR PLEDGES
The selection of sites for our offshore wind farms was informed by a detailed series of environmental, engineering, and feasibility studies in 2020. These assessments will continue up to 2025, widening to include metocean, geophysical and geotechnical studies to inform our foundation and wind turbine selection. Ornithological, benthic and commercial fishing studies will, likewise, feed into our Environmental Impact Assessment.
Our design and installation choices are driven by our pledges to:
1. Minimise impact, when possible, on marine life through detailed surveys of marine mammals, seabirds and benthic habitats at the two sites and integrating risk mitigation into our site designs, supported by independent environmental consultancy RPS and APEM. APEM’s innovative use of LiDAR technology provides us with data on bird flight heights to 10cm accuracy.
2. Work collaboratively and sympathetically with other maritime industries, supported by a specialist fisheries liaison team at Blackhall & Powis.
Image: APEM aerial survey. Credit: Chloe Winterbottom.
Find out about our two pioneering ScotWind offshore wind projects
TWP is expanding, with opportunities for career development at all levels.
If you have any queries about our wind farm projects, TWP’s community engagement, careers with TWP, or anything else, please fill out our general enquiries form.