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Forth Ports PLC (“Forth Ports”) and Scottish and Southern Energy plc (“SSE”) announce today that they have entered into a strategic venture to develop renewable energy projects around Forth Ports sites in Scotland and England.
To be called Forth Energy, the new venture will invest in the generation, distribution and supply of renewable energy for export to the electricity network for commercial sale and for consumption at Forth Ports sites. It will support the sustainable regeneration of Forth Ports’ property development asset base. In some ports, there will be additional benefits arising from the transit of sustainable materials for power generation. Forth Energy has the potential to be Scotland’s biggest developer of on-site dedicated renewable power generation facilities.
The venture contemplates projects across a number of renewable energy technologies, including onshore and offshore wind and biomass, and related networks and infrastructure. Possible projects with a total installed capacity in excess of 150MW have been identified. The first of these – the construction of four 2MW onshore wind turbines at the Port of Tilbury – will proceed shortly, following the recent grant of planning consent. This project will require total investment of around £12m, to be provided by a mixture of project debt and equity.
If Forth Energy’s existing project portfolio is fully developed, up to 200 permanent skilled engineering and craft jobs will be created.
Energy Minister Jim Mather said: “The joint venture has the potential to deliver innovative renewable energy solutions providing sustainable energy for use at Forth Ports sites and for commercial sale. This collaborative project will aid the regeneration of Forth Ports’ property asset base, while creating skilled jobs and cutting emissions, which is exactly in line with our strategy to put renewables at the heart of economic growth in Scotland.”
Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive of Forth Ports, said:
“For some time we have been examining how we can develop a renewable energy strategy, both for self-consumption and for commercial sale by exploiting our asset base and by capitalising on our logistics expertise. On a stand-alone basis, we expect these projects to deliver attractive returns.
“SSE is the UK leader in renewable energy, and through working with them we believe we can realise a significant number of opportunities. These include meeting our own energy needs from renewable sources, customers’ growing demand for green energy and planning authorities’ sustainable energy requirements. Our ports should also benefit from the increased handling of renewables feedstocks.”
Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said:
“Securing future supplies and tackling climate change are driving major changes in the production and consumption of energy. Our venture with Forth Ports will provide us with a series of new opportunities to pursue sustainable energy developments, with a variety of technologies.
“Working with a leading infrastructure owner and developer like Forth Ports represents another important milestone in the growth of our energy services business, which is about providing site-specific energy solutions for customers in the land development and other sectors.”
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| Forth Ports |
| 30/06/2008 |
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