The Marine Data Exchange platform will now include data on offshore activities in Scottish waters.

Following an agreement between The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland, the Marine Data Exchange has been extended to cover Scottish waters. The agreement will allow all developers working in UK waters to benefit from a more streamlined and comprehensive dataset to inform offshore developments, supporting the faster, more sustainable roll-out of offshore technologies that are critical to the UK’s energy transition, while protecting and restoring the biodiversity of our seas and the marine environment, Crown Estate Scotland said.

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Created by The Crown Estate in 2013, the Marine Data Exchange (MDE) is the first of its kind and holds freely available survey data, research and evidence relating to the seas around England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and now, Scotland.

The platform provides access to information from a variety of industries, including offshore wind, tidal and wave energy, and sub-sea cables, as well as data from research and evidence projects. It also holds a wide range of data types – including geotechnical, geophysical, marine mammal and fish surveys, archaeological and shipwreck sites, and marine peat beds.

Olivia Thomas, Head of Marine Planning at The Crown Estate, said: “The inclusion of Scottish data onto our Marine Data Exchange is a really important step on the journey to achieving a thriving marine environment. With the UK’s ambition to achieve 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, having the best evidence and data is a crucial part of achieving these milestones and in making sure we do so in a sustainable way.

Sian Wilson, Interim Director of Marine for Crown Estate Scotland, said: “The expanded MDE will help support the delivery of the recently concluded ScotWind Leasing round, which involves 20 projects totalling 27.6GW of clean energy and which is a key part of the UK’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency, secure our energy supply, and generate billions of pounds of investment in the economy.”