News

The Crown Estate launches Round 1 of Pentland Firth development

17 November 2008

The Crown Estate is today (17 November 2008) inviting initial proposals from developers for the UK’s first commercial marine power sites, located in the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters.

The Round 1 leasing programme is aimed at delivering 700MW of new offshore wave and tidal power by 2020 and is expected to bring significant economic benefits to north Scotland.

Unlike some other forms of renewable energy, the energy supply from tidal machines is predictable. The opening up of the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters - which contains six of the top ten sites in the UK for tidal power development - is central to meeting Scottish Government green energy targets.

The Crown Estate will look closely to see what local benefits each developer can incorporate into their scheme and all commercial development will be subject to a comprehensive environmental impact assessment.

Rob Hastings, The Crown Estate’s Director of the Marine Estate, said:

“In this country we are widely recognised as having both the technological lead and some of the best wave and tidal resources in the world. It is essential that this technology is given every opportunity to thrive here, in our waters, for the benefit of the environment, the energy industry, and the wider Scottish economy.

“Working alongside a number of agencies, The Crown Estate is committed to playing a key role in generating investor confidence and supporting regeneration in communities in north Scotland.”

The process will take into account the wide range of stakeholder interests including international shipping routes, ferry traffic, fishing, defence, environment and ecology.

The initial devices to be installed are expected to be full size demonstration devices deployed in small arrays. Larger scale development may well require improvements to the grid; full scale commercial development will almost certainly require significant investment in the grid.

Today’s announcement is a result of work by the Pentland Firth Tidal Energy Project which works to develop the marine energy industry. The project partners are The Crown Estate, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Highland Council, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the Scottish Government.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Further information on the Pentland Firth marine energy project can be found here.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in 2007 concluded that between 1,000MW and 2,600MW of energy generating capacity could be exploited with minor effects on the environment. The full Environmental Report can be found at www.seaenergyscotland.co.uk

Indicative timetable

• 17 November 2008 - invitation for pre-qualification
• Noon, 19 December 2008 - invitation closes, pre-qualification assessment begins
• Week beginning 26 January 2009 – e-tendering process opens to those organisations passing the pre-qualification assessment. Tender period begins.
• Noon, 24 April 2009 – tender period closes. Detailed evaluation begins.
• Summer 2009 – lease offers announced.

The Crown Estate and energy

The Crown Estate has a key role in Scotland’s energy future. It owns almost all of the seabed out to 12 nautical miles, and has rights to licence renewable energy development out to 200 nautical miles with responsibility for providing site options and leases for consented offshore wind, wave and tidal projects around Scotland and the rest of the UK.

The Crown Estate is already working with both the Scottish Government and UK Government on projects that have the potential to deliver significant energy supply, such as Round 3 of offshore wind (intended to deliver 25GW of energy for the UK) and Scottish offshore wind which will deliver further energy from Scottish territorial waters.

The Crown Estate is also supporting the commercialisation of marine technologies and investing in research on improvements to access to the transmission network that will be needed to ensure renewable energy targets are met. This includes a report on the feasibility of an east coast sub-sea interconnector.

The Crown Estate is in separate dialogue with DECC and each of the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland over the development of the marine energy resources within their respective areas of jurisdiction.

The Crown Estate

• The Crown Estate is valued at over £7 billion, including substantial blocks of urban property, around 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of agricultural land in England, Scotland and Wales, and about half the foreshore, together with the seabed out to the 12 mile territorial limit
• The Crown Estate has two main objectives: to benefit the taxpayer by paying the revenue surplus earned from assets directly to the Treasury (in 2007/08 this amounted to £211.4 million); and to enhance the value of the estate and the income it generates
• As owners, managers and guardians of one of the world’s most important and diverse urban, rural and marine property portfolios, our work is underpinned by three core values of commercialism, integrity and stewardship

The Crown Estate in Scotland

• Generated a revenue surplus of £10.3m in 2007/8, paid directly to the Treasury for the benefit of all UK taxpayers
• Reported a capital value of £237m in 2007/8
• Direct and indirect investment in Scotland totalled £216.4m in 2007/8