Crown Estate Scotland Collecting on Marine Data Exchange
In October 2023 Crown Estate Scotland (CES) and The Crown Estate (TCE) announced an agreement to work together to enhance the data offerings on Marine Data Exchange (MDE) to include data in Scotland. A technical project to onboard CES to the MDE followed and in May 2024 we announced go-live for CES.
We have not stopped for breath!
CES is now engaging with developers who have been commissioning surveys around Scotland and we are already collecting data relating to ScotWind offshore wind farm agreements. CES aims to publish that data at the earliest opportunity and will be working with developers to agree appropriate times to release it to the public, for free, via the world-leading Marine Data Exchange.
CES and TCE understand the value of data on our marine environments. Both organisations contributed with other partners to a Data and Digital Maturity Survey Report in 2023. Feedback from developers who have agreements over the seabed for a range of activity including offshore wind, wave, and tidal, overwhelmingly state that access to data will contribute to de-risking the development of their sites and accelerate their developments. Getting offshore renewable energy into production more quickly, and more safely, has a massive contribution to make to net zero.
Please see the interactive map below for details of the offshore wind agreements in Scottish waters.
CES is also releasing some archived data of various themes into the public realm over the next few months. Recent examples include data collected as part of previous seabed agreements at Aegir (Shetland), and Brims Tidal Array (Orkney). And in collaboration with British Geological Survey, we will identify geological and geophysical data appropriate for publication to support them with their Seabed Geology Project; a new programme of mapping the seabed geology of the UK’s continental shelf.
With more than 13,000 sq. km of seabed agreements managed by Crown Estate Scotland for offshore renewables in various stages of planning, development or operation there is the potential to match the vast data offering already offered on Marine Data Exchange (nearly 300 Tb of data!).
Look out for more stories in the future on our progress collecting and publishing data on Marine Data Exchange!
Image 1: Aerial photo of the Brims Tidal Array area