8 Sep 2010 07:00
Date: 8 September 2010
SeaEnergy PLC
("SeaEnergy" or the "Company")
Heads of Terms for Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm Project
SeaEnergy PLC is pleased to announce that its 80% subsidiary SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL) has agreed a Heads of Terms (HoT) agreement with The Crown Estate for the funding of certain Inch Cape wind farm development activities.
The HoT agreement demonstrates both organisations' ongoing commitment to the project, which is important to the delivery of Scottish Territorial Waters leasing round capacity and therefore to the UK in terms of the delivery of the Offshore Wind Energy Programme.
The HoT agreement states that The Crown Estate will directly invest up to £1.4 million in key surveys and reports, including scoping reports, geophysical surveys and bird and mammal surveys, which will be directly contracted and managed by SERL. The Crown Estate and SERL will now seek to finalise a formal development agreement in respect of these arrangements.
The Inch Cape site was awarded to a consortium comprised of RWE npower renewables (npower) and SeaEnergy Renewables Limited in February 2009 as a part of the Scottish Territorial Waters leasing round conducted by The Crown Estate in association with the Scottish Government. Following the site award, the consortium entered into an Exclusivity Agreement with The Crown Estate providing exclusive rights to enter into an Agreement for Lease once the Scottish Government had concluded the Strategic Environmental Assessment process. npower notified SERL and The Crown Estate earlier this year of its desire to exit the Inch Cape project. This was due to the considerable size of its other onshore and offshore renewable generation commitments.
SERL CEO Joel Staadecker said: "We are delighted that The Crown Estate shares our commitment to the Inch Cape offshore wind farm and look forward to concluding the formal development agreement."
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For further information contact:
SeaEnergy PLC +44 1224 748480
Steven Bertram - Managing Director
SeaEnergy Renewables Limited +44 1224 766100
Joel Staadecker - Chief Executive
Ambrian Partners Limited - NOMAD & Broker +44 20 7634 4700
Andrew Craig, Ben Wright
Kreab Gavin Anderson +44 20 7074 1800
Kate Hill, Ken Cronin, Andrew Jones
The Crown Estate +44 20 7851 5311
Clare Lovett - Media Relations Manager
NOTES TO EDITORS
SeaEnergy PLC
SeaEnergy PLC is the only listed pure play offshore wind energy company in the UK. SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL) is a subsidiary of the Company and is made up of the team which conceived, developed and delivered the world's first deep water wind farm development - the Beatrice Demonstrator offshore wind farm (10MW) (the "Beatrice Demonstrator Project") which is owned and operated by Talisman Energy. The Beatrice Demonstrator Project involved the installation of the two largest wind turbines (5MW each) ever deployed offshore, at water depths of 45 metres. This, combined with the SERL team's expertise in delivering deep water offshore developments in the oil and gas industry, puts SeaEnergy in an unrivalled position at the vanguard of the emerging offshore renewables industry.
Prior to the UK Round 3 award SeaEnergy had secured a 25% interest in two Scottish offshore wind farms, Beatrice and Inch Cape. The award of Zone 1 in the UK Round 3 leasing programme with partners EDP Renováveis takes SeaEnergy's net capacity in the UK to over 781MW. SeaEnergy has also signed a Heads of Terms Agreement to develop offshore wind farms in Taiwan with Taiwan Generations Corporation and a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Nantong COSCO Ship Steel Structure Co. Ltd (NCSC) to develop and market steel structures for the offshore wind industry.
www.seaeenergy-plc.com
The Crown Estate
·; On behalf of the nation, The Crown Estate manages a highly diverse £6 billion property portfolio across the UK. The value of its holdings in Scotland is £237 million.
·; Our objectives, which are laid down by Parliament under The Crown Estate Act 1961, include enhancing the value of the estate and the revenue it produces.
·; Every year we pay all of our surplus revenue to the UK Treasury for the benefit of all UK taxpayers: in 2008/09 this was £226.5 million. £15.5 million of this came from Scotland.
·; Our core values of commercialism, integrity and stewardship, guide and inform all our business activities.
·; The Crown Estate is committed to working in partnership with the Scottish Government and members of the Scottish Parliament, local authorities and a wide range of other stakeholders to safeguard the long term interests of the environment and the communities with which we work.
·; In Scotland, The Crown Estate includes:
- The marine estate consists of over half the foreshore and the seabed out to the 12 nautical mile territorial limit. The Crown Estate has the right to explore and utilise the resources of the UK continental shelf (excluding oil, gas and coal), including the right to license renewable energy in the form of offshore wind, wave and tidal power. We are working with our partners to ensure that Scotland is well placed to take advantage of the benefits that renewables will bring through employment and by reducing carbon emissions.
- The rural estate in Scotland comprises 43,000 hectares and includes the Glenlivet, Fochabers, Applegirth, Stirling and Whitehill estates. It includes 185 agricultural tenancies and 102 residential properties.
- The urban estate includes retail property in Edinburgh.
·; The Crown Estate in Scotland is managed from its Edinburgh Office at 6 Bells Brae Edinburgh EH4 3BJ.
www.thecrownestate.co.uk/scotland