Recharge6 May 2011 15:42
Minnow is angling for a deal with big players
6 May 2011
ReCharge
SeaEnergy is a minnow among European energy companies, but it has built up a formidable portfolio of development assets in the offshore wind sector.. It is now the centre of attention after revealing that it is in exclusive talks with a consortium of "major European energy companies" to sell its majority stake in its SeaEnergy Renewables (SERL) subsidiary..
SERL's assets include stakes in the 1.3GW Moray Firth UK Round 3 zone - in which Portugal's EDP Renováveis (EDPR) is the majority partner - and the Inch Cape and Beatrice zones in Scottish territorial waters. All are prime real estate at a time when interest in the British offshore sector is soaring.
SeaEnergy has run out of money, and developing the projects requires big resources.
It has been forced to use ever more imaginative ways to keep things going - persuading the Crown Estate to take a stake in the Inch Cape project after RWE walked away; and relying on EDPR to shoulder the costs for work on Moray Firth. But time is running out, with its existing loan facility due to expire again at the end of June. A sale looks serious this time. One member of the consortium has even extended a loan facility to SeaEnergy to be repaid from the proceeds of a sale. SeaEnergy is keeping quiet about who is in the consortium, but there are several possible interested parties..
One is Denmark's Dong Energy, which lost out in a big way in the Round 3 tender and is looking to buy into an existing zone. Dong might be joined by long-term partner E.ON, especially given shifts in Germany's policy following Japan's nuclear disaster..
EDPR has considered buying SeaEnergy but decided it does not need to. However, it could buy a minor stake as a way of protecting its interests..
Spanish wind giant Iberdrola could also be interested in more offshore, while at least one turbine manufacturer may be involved..
The Crown Estate and the UK government, which are determined to keep the zones' development on schedule, will be watching closely