Scottish & Southern in marine energy deal

By Andrew Bolger, Scotland Correspondent
Published: February 24 2009 10:53

Airtricity, the renewable energy arm of the Scottish and Southern Energy utility group, has signed an agreement aimed at developing sites capable of hosting 1,000MW of marine energy by 2020.
The agreement is with Aquamarine, the only UK marine energy company developing both wave and tidal power devices simultaneously, which has secured test berths for both technologies at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.

Both companies will enter into a 50:50 joint venture to develop wave and tidal energy sites in the UK and Republic of Ireland. They aim to deploy Aquamarine’s Oyster wave energy converter and its Neptune tidal device.
Martin McAdam, chief executive of Aquamarine, said: “This contract is the biggest deal in the history of marine energy. Fully consented offshore wind farm sites are selling to owner operators at anywhere between £150,000 and £400,000 per MW consented, giving a strong indication of the large potential value of this deal if all 1,000MW of sites receive full consents and grid connection.”
Stephen Wheeler, Airtricity’s director responsible for marine development, said the agreement gave his group first option on sites Aquamarine developed, using its models of tidal and wave power and to identify and develop environmentally sensitive and profitable sites for the future.
“Aquamarine’s technologies also have similarities with our experience in hydro-electric and offshore wind development,” he said. “We see marine energy making an increasingly important contribution to our growing portfolio of renewable energy generation plants. ”
Airtricity was acquired by SSE last year for £1bn and the combined Airtricity/SSE team has developed 40 wind farms across Europe and North America, generating more than 1,500MW.
Edinburgh-based Aquamarine was founded in 2005, and is currently seeking to raise more than £50m of funding from investors. SSE currently has a 47 per cent stake in the company, but this is expected to be diluted by the fundraising.
Mr McAdam founded Airtricity’s US operations, which were recently sold for £750m, and it chief operating officer is Matthias Haag, former general manager at Shell WindEnergy.
Aitrtricity is currently developing two of the world’s largest windfarms, a 504 MW project at Greater Gabbard, off the Suffolk coast, and a 456MW onshore wind farm, located in the Upper Clyde Valley.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009