Isra-Mart srl:Crown Estate to kick off Northern Irish offshore renewables leasing round

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Isra-Mart srl news:

The Crown Estate will next month invite renewable energy developers to identify the most attractive areas of the Northern Irish seabed for offshore wind and tidal stream projects as a prelude to a leasing round later this year.

The landlord of the seabed today confirmed its timetable for the development of offshore wind and tidal energy in Northern Ireland waters, adding that it hopes to see more than a gigawatt of new capacity installed as part of efforts to meet the assembly government's goal of supplying 40 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Under the new plan, the Crown Estate will start parallel leasing rounds for offshore wind and tidal stream projects in September this year, with the final development rights being awarded as early as spring 2012.

However, in order to identify the most suitable areas for development and the most appropriate leasing process, the body will first launch a design consultation running from April 1 this year to the end of May.

A strategic environmental assessment conducted last year suggested 600MW to 900MW of offshore wind and 300MW of tidal stream projects could be developed in a range of areas off the Northern Ireland coast by 2020.

Dermot Grimson, Crown Estate head of external relations, marine policy and planning, said the design consultation aims to satisfy the demands of both government and industry.

"Market interest in projects off Northern Ireland is growing," he said. "In inviting views on how development rights should be offered, we hope to approach site leasing in a way that maximises market interest and commitment to development and thereby find a 'win-win' for the industry and Northern Ireland."

Northern Ireland has already demonstrated the potential success of offshore renewables with the 1.2MW Seagen tidal turbine, which was installed in the Strangford Narrows in 2008. However, the government is keen to ramp up capacity further to combat climate change and ensure security of supply.