RYA Scotland work with colleagues across the wider RYA, relevant statutory authorities, stakeholders in Scotland including Marine Scotland and the Northern Lighthouse Board, as well as with developers and their consultants to limit adverse impacts of marine renewable developments on navigational safety of recreational boating around the coast whilst being alert to any possible benefits.

Marine Scotland send licence applications for marine renewables to RYA Scotland, all of which are responded to drawing on the specific local knowledge of our network of Coastwatchers. In fact, by the time a licence application is submitted RYA Scotland may have already been involved at several stages including the identification of key issues to be addressed (scoping), and attendance at Navigational Risk Assessment meetings.

Local meetings are often held by developers and you are encouraged to attend, as there may be local issues that RYA Scotland is unaware of. Please keep us informed of any such issues so that we can best support you. While we are well aware of all the large schemes, small wave and tidal schemes may be proposed and it is important that we are alerted as soon as possible.

There are several conventional windfarms operating in Scottish Waters, including Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth, Beatrice in the Moray Firth and the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen Bay, as well as further conventional offshore windfarms, smaller floating arrays and further installations which are under construction. An overview of offshore wind installations can be found on the Crown Estate website. In spite of requests by RYA Scotland there is no single site where all the Notices to Mariners can be found.