Moray Firth success for SeaEnergy joint venture

A JOINT-VENTURE between Aberdeenshire-based renewable-energy firm SeaEnergy Renewables and Portuguese windpower specialist EDP Renovaveis (EDPR) is about to be awarded a licence for a development in the Moray Firth, it emerged yesterday.

The Crown Estate has not yet announced the winning bidders in its third windfarm licensing round but EDPR and SeaEnergy were forced to break the news of their success after a request from the Portuguese securities market commission.

SeaEnergy, which owns 80% of SeaEnergy Renewables, said the joint venture – Moray Offshore Renewables (MOR) – had been selected by the Crown Estate as a Moray Firth Zone partner.

MOR is expected to enter into an agreement to develop 1.3 gigawatts of offshore windfarm capacity in the Crown Estate’s Moray Firth Zone 1.

SeaEnergy said: “The selected partners will be awarded an exclusive right to proceed first with the study and development of offshore windfarm projects in a specific zone for the purpose of obtaining the relevant key consents.

“If the relevant key consents are obtained, MOR will be authorised to begin construction and operation of the relevant offshore windfarm projects, which, should MOR be selected now as a zone partner, is expected to take place between 2015 and 2020.”

The Crown Estate is due to make its licensing round announcement tomorrow.