ScottishPower Renewables, the green energy branch of utility ScottishPower, has acquired a new site at Lowestoft’s Power Park on the east coast of England.
The company will spend around £8 million to acquire and develop the site, where it will establish a permanent base to support the delivery of its offshore wind projects in the East of England. The site is close to ScottishPower Renewables’ existing operations and maintenance base for the East Anglia One offshore wind development, at Lowestoft port.
CEO of ScottishPower Renewables, Charlie Jordan, called Lowestoft a “powerhouse for the clean energy industry”, adding that the investment confirms the area’s status as “the home and heart of [ScottishPower’s] offshore wind operations in the UK”.
Jess Asato, MP for Lowestoft, said: “ScottishPower’s decision to establish Lowestoft as a long-term hub for its UK offshore wind operations is a game-changer for our town, bringing significant economic opportunities. With a multi-million-pound investment, this project will not only support our windfarms, but also create local jobs, boosting employment in green energy.”
The new Trinity Road development will primarily provide an operations and maintenance base for the East Anglia Three offshore wind power plant that is currently under construction. The development will have a capacity of 1.4GW when completed; Spanish utility Iberdrola, which owns ScottishPower, secured a £432 million loan in 2023 to cover the construction.
In 2022, the project was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) in the fourth allocation round (AR4). ScottishPower Renewables secured an additional CfD for the development in this year’s auction round (AR6), alongside one for the East Anglia One offshore wind development.
East Anglia Three is due to be commissioned towards the end of 2026. Technology and e-commerce giant Amazon signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to procure 159MW of the energy generated by the power plant.
ScottishPower plc recently claimed to have invested almost £914 million in low carbon infrastructure in the UK across its electricity networks—having delivered £513 million in projects to support the grid through the energy transition—as well as renewables projects.
Iberdrola recently signed an agreement to take a stake in another UK distribution network, Electricity North West, which the company says will complement ScottishPower’s electricity networks business: distributing electricity in the north-west of England, Electricity North West covers an area in between two ScottishPower networks license areas.
