Thistle Wind Partners
Founded with a focus on Scottish offshore wind development
Work With Thistle Wind Partners
Thistle Wind Partners
Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) is an Edinburgh-based business, founded with a focus on Scottish offshore wind development.
They 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).
Their 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.
Their Pledges
Informed by extensive environmental, engineering, and feasibility studies conducted in 2020, offshore wind farm sites have been selected. These studies will continue until 2025, expanding to include metocean, geophysical, and geotechnical studies. Ornithological, benthic, and commercial fishing studies will also be incorporated to aid in the Environmental Impact Assessment.
Efforts to minimise the impact on marine life include detailed surveys of marine mammals, seabirds, and benthic habitats at both sites, as well as risk mitigation integrated into site designs. RPS and APEM, independent environmental consultancies, provide support for these efforts, and APEM utilises LiDAR technology for precise bird flight data.
Collaboration with other maritime industries is a priority, with a dedicated fisheries liaison team at Blackhall & Powis.
Scotland’s World-Leading Offshore Supply Chain and Academia
TWP's founders have a successful track record of involving local content in their renewable energy projects worldwide. Qair and DEME have helped ports develop their capacity for renewables, such as Port La-Nouvelle in France, and achieved a majority of local content in Qair's EolMed Floating Wind Farm in the Mediterranean.
In Belgium, DEME was a partner and shareholder in Renewable Energy Base Ostend (REBO), which has become a prominent terminal for offshore construction, decommissioning, and project cargo for both oil and gas and renewables.
TWP's aim for their Scottish offshore wind farms is to allocate £2.4 billion of their budget to the Scottish supply chain by 2033. To achieve this, they plan to increase their Scottish academic partnerships and supply chain in the upcoming years.
