The offshore wind industry will today take a major step forward with the announcement of a raft of new seabed lease agreements from the Crown Estate that could support up to 5GW of new capacity.
The organisation, which manages the UK seabed, will confirm it has awarded conditional agreements for lease to five offshore renewable energy sites in Scottish territorial waters.
SSE Renewables will be awarded two agreements for lease to develop the 690MW Islay wind farm off the west coast, and the 1GW Beatrice project in the Moray Firth.
Scottish Power Renewables has also secured approval for the Argyll Array wind farm off the west coast, which could boast up to 1.8GW of capacity.
Two further agreements are to be awarded in the Outer Forth and Tay, with Mainstream Renewable Power’s Neart na Gaoithe wind farm and Inch Cape, which Repsol Nuevas Energias recently purchased from SeaEnergy Renewables, the beneficiaries.
The agreements for leases provide an option for developers to take a seabed lease in the future, and build on existing “exclusivity agreements” for the developers to scope out the prospective sites.
They will now be able to start making critical project decisions as they prepare applications for consent. If a developer decides to take up a full lease, final consent will be determined by regulator Marine Scotland.
This represents a major step forward for the Scottish government as it strives to reach its target of generating 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Together with planned Round 3 zones off the Scottish coast, the total awarded offshore wind capacity in Scottish waters is now nearly 10GW.
Gareth Baird, Crown Estate Scottish commissioner, said the organisation had already invested £16m in offshore renewable energy in Scotland and plans to invest another £20m to ensure the projects are built.
“We’re very pleased to achieve this important milestone, and will continue to work closely with the Scottish government and developers to progress projects and attract investment, with the aim of helping meet Scotland’s ambitious targets on renewable energy production,” he said.
Scottish rural affairs and environment secretary Richard Lochhead also welcomed the news as a “hugely important” boost for the country’s renewables industry.
“Scotland has an estimated quarter of Europe’s offshore wind resource, making us the powerhouse of green energy in Europe. With this wealth of natural resources, it is vital that we plan now to secure the benefits of this next energy revolution for future generations,” said Lochhead .
( businessgreen )
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Source: businessgreen, October 28, 2011; Image: forewind