6 Jun 2011 11:45
Date: 6 June 2011
SeaEnergy PLC
The Crown Estate signs Agreement for Lease for Scottish wind farm
SeaEnergy PLC today announced that its subsidiary SeaEnergy Renewables Inch Cape Limited (SERICL) has today signed an Agreement for Lease with The Crown Estate Commissioners which will lead to the development of around 905 megawatts of offshore wind generation capacity off the Angus Coast.
SERICL is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL). Repsol Nuevas Energias SA (Repsol) has today announced the acquisition of SERL following its divestment by SeaEnergy PLC, subject to shareholder approval. Following the conclusion of this transaction, it is intended that the Inch Cape site will be developed by a joint venture between Repsol's New Energy Unit and EDP Renováveis.
Inch Cape is one of six sites in the Scottish Territorial Waters Leasing Programme deemed suitable for development following publication of the Strategic Environmental Assessment and Post Adoption Statement by the Scottish Government in March of this year. The 150 km2 site is situated between 15 and 22 kilometres east of the Angus Coastline and will have an indicative capacity of 905MW - enough to supply power for around 680,000 homes.
The Agreement for Lease grants the exclusive right to develop wind farms on the site subject to obtaining the necessary consents. The companies will now continue to work on the preparation of a Consent Application, including an Environmental Impact Assessment, which is expected to be submitted to Marine Scotland in 2013.
The Inch Cape site was originally awarded in 2009 to a consortium comprising RWE npower renewables (npower) and SERL. Following npower's decision to exit from the project in 2010 due to the scale of its other renewable generation commitments, The Crown Estate agreed to directly invest over £1 million in Inch Cape to secure the future of what is a key project in the development of Scotland's offshore wind industry. The Crown Estate's investment was used to fund key surveys and reports.
Gareth Baird, Scottish Commissioner of The Crown Estate said: "This investment demonstrates the critical role played by The Crown Estate in helping drive the Scottish offshore wind industry, in line with one of the Scottish Government's key objectives. The Crown Estate's structure and diverse UK portfolio makes this investment possible and has enabled a Scottish based developer to attract investment into the Scottish economy from two international developers."
Joel Staadecker, CEO of SERL said: "Inch Cape is a tremendously well situated site with great wind resource potential, and thanks to The Crown Estate we have been able to continue to progress the project without any delay. The new joint venture between Repsol and EDP Renováveis will now allow us to bring this important part of Scotland's offshore wind portfolio online."
-Ends-
For further information contact:
SeaEnergy PLC +44 1224 748480
Steve Remp - Executive Chairman
Steven Bertram - Managing Director
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
SeaEnergy Renewables Ltd +44 1224 766100
Joel Staadecker, CEO, SERL
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Inch Cape Offshore Wind
·; Location - 15 to 22km (9 to 14 miles) from the Angus coastline in Scotland
·; Approx 180 turbines over the site
·; Water depth 30m-60m
·; Total Capacity approx. 905 MW
Further details including the full scoping report and associated documents are available from www.inchcapewind.com
About The Crown Estate
·; The Crown Estate manages a highly diverse £6 billion property portfolio across the UK. The value of its holdings in Scotland is £237 million.
·; We pay all of our surplus revenue (profit) to the Treasury for the benefit of the public: in 2009/10 this was £210.7 million. Revenue from Scotland in 2009/10 was £13.1 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.
·; The responsibilities of The Crown Estate are to maintain and enhance the value of the estate and its income over the long term and to do this having regard to good management. In summary, The Crown Estate is a successful business organisation guided by our core values - commercialism, integrity and stewardship.
·; The Crown Estate is committed to working in partnership with the Scottish Government and members of the Scottish Parliament, local authorities and 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, which is 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, which 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, which includes retail property in Edinburgh.
·; The Crown Estate in Scotland is managed from its Edinburgh Office at 6 Bell's Brae Edinburgh EH4 3BJ.
www.thecrownestate.co.uk/scotland
About Repsol New Energy Business Unit
Repsol's New Energy Business Unit was created last year to boost business-oriented initiatives in areas including bioenergy, new energy vectors for transport and other renewable energy areas that may have synergies with Repsol's existing business and in the places where the company operates. Repsol is Europe's fifth-largest oil company and the largest privately-owned energy group in Latin America.
EDP Renováveis
EDP Renewables (Euronext: EDPR), headquartered in Madrid, Spain, is a global leader in the renewable energy sector that designs, develops, manages and operates power plants that generate electricity using renewable energy sources. With a sound development pipeline, first class assets and market-leading operating capacity, EDPR has undergone exceptional development in recent years. Energias de Portugal, S.A. ("EDP"), the majority shareholder of EDPR, is a vertically-integrated utility company, headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal. Through its various constituent businesses, EDP holds significant electricity and gas operations in Europe, Brazil and the United States. For more information, visit www.edprenovaveis.com.