The Ørsted, Falck Renewables, BlueFloat Energy floating offshore wind consortium has appointed a project director for its Stromar development off the north-east coast of Scotland.

Previously Ørsted’s Head of Transmission Product Line, Nicholas Ritchie took up the position at the beginning of September. Born and raised in Scotland, Nicholas worked around the world in the oil and gas sector for more than 20 years and joined Ørsted, then DONG Energy, in 2015. Before joining the Stromar team, he was responsible for Ørsted’s global engineering portfolio and procurement of offshore transmission systems.

“Working on such an innovative project and helping Scotland lead the way in floating wind during the energy transition is very important to me,” said Nicholas. “My dedicated team is made up of the best talent from Ørsted, BlueFloat Energy and Falck Renewables who will be working hard to make Stromar a success while helping develop Scotland into a global hub for floating offshore wind technology.”

Richard Dibley, Managing Director of Falck Renewables Wind Ltd, said: “We are delighted to welcome Nicholas to head up the Stromar team. His career to date which has successfully transitioned from oil and gas to renewables is a blueprint for how a Scottish workforce can reskill to take advantage of offshore wind. His experience and knowledge will be crucial to delivering this ambitious project and ensuring that the benefits of floating offshore wind are shared with the Scottish economy, supply chain and communities.”

Carlos Martin, CEO of BlueFloat Energy, said: “Nicholas’ appointment marks the start of delivering floating offshore wind developments at a scale which will really make a difference to Scotland. His expertise leading the Stromar team will allow us to maximise the huge potential of the Scottish coastline to deliver the secure supply of clean energy crucial toa net zero future for Scotland.”

TheStromar floating windproject will be located off the coast of Caithness, around 50 km east of Wick and has a seabed lease agreed with Crown Estate Scotland for up to 1GW.