Press Release

NEW OFFSHORE ENERGY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE ANNOUNCED

2 July 2009

The Crown Estate has announced the appointment of its Offshore Energy Supervisory Committee (OESC). This committee will advise the main board on marine renewable energy issues as The Crown Estate continues to play an active role in these aspects of the delivery of energy policy. The Crown Estate is currently taking a leading role in the Round 3 offshore wind programme to deliver 25 GW of energy by 2020. Taking all the programmes together on wind, wave and tidal energy, about one third of the UK's electricity needs will be met from renewable energy sources in UK waters by 2020.

The newly appointed committee will bring considerable experience and expertise to help The Crown Estate make the best of this opportunity. The committee will deliver expertise in: energy generation and transmission; economics and regulation; infrastructure investment; and the energy supply chain. The committee is chaired by Roger Bright, the Chief Executive of The Crown Estate and includes David Fursdon, Crown Estate Board member. Four external advisors to the main board will attend committee meeting:

• John Burnham – formerly MD and Head of Infrastructure for Citigroup Global Markets Ltd
• Matts Lundgren – currently the Managing Director of Allianz Capital Partners, a private equity company based in Germany
• Dipesh J. Shah – formerly the Chairman of Viridian Group Plc and of Hg Capital Renewable Power Partners Llp, he is a non-executive director on several Boards, including Lloyd's of London Franchise Board, Thames Water, Babcock International Group Plc and JKX Oil and Gas Plc where he is the chairman of the remuneration committee
• Chris Geoghegan – formerly Chief Operating Officer of BAESystems, he currently holds several non-executive director posts: Hampson Industries Plc where he is Chairman, Kier Group Plc and Volex Plc where he chairs the remuneration committees and SIG Plc.

Welcoming the OESC, Chief Executive Roger Bright said: “I’m delighted that The Crown Estate has a new offshore energy supervisory committee. The four external advisors have a wide range of expertise which will greatly inform the main board on marine renewable energy issues as we continue to play a central role in establishing this new industry.

“Actively using the natural marine resources to generate electricity and store CO2 is a recent activity for us and a challenge that we are facing head on. The creation of this committee shows our commitment to delivering this. The positive impact of our work to the UK is considerable: have a secure renewable energy supply; nurture developing technology and manufacturing industries; and create jobs and investment right across the UK. We are currently running several programmes in development including: three rounds of offshore windfarms; the world’s first commercial wave and tidal leasing round; and working towards seabed leases for CO2 storage as part of carbon capture and storage projects.”

Profiles

John Burnham

John Burnham has over 33 years of experience of infrastructure investment. After leaving Cambridge University he joined Schroders, became a Director of Schroders in 1989 and worked for Citi since the takeover in 2000 until retiring in June 2008. He was MD and Head of Infrastructure for Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. John has been involved in privatisation, project financing, M&A, restructuring and private equity across the various sub-sectors of infrastructure, utilities and transport throughout his career.

At different times he has been: Regional Representative for SE Asia, based in Singapore; Head of the Private Power Practice; Head of Asian Privatisation and Project Finance, based in Hong Kong; Global Head of Projects and Privatisation; Chairman of the Infrastructure Advisory Group; and on the Operating Committee of Global Structured Corporate Finance.

Matts Lundgren

Matts Lundgren is a supply chain specialist with over 25 years experience. His experience was gained in ABB Group, a power and automation technologies company which aims to enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impacts. He was Managing Director of ABB Capacitors Ltd in Bangkok and Executive Vice President in ABB KK in Tokyo.

He is currently the Managing Director of Allianz Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Germany. Prior to this he held both the positions of Chairman of the Board of Director and Chief Executive Officer at Hansen Transmission NV, a global wind turbine gearbox manufacturer and supplier. He also worked as Business Group President at Invensys PLC, based both in Belgium and also the US, a global technology group, supplying solutions, software, consultancy and equipment to monitor, control and automate processes in a wide range of environments.

Dipesh Shah OBE

Dipesh Shah has over 30 years experience of the oil and gas sector. He spent more than 20 years with BP, holding a range of positions including Chief Economist for BP Oil UK, Chief Executive of various Group businesses and Vice President and General Manager of Acquisitions and Divestments. Mr Shah was also a member of the BP Group Leadership for more than 10 years before leaving BP in 2002.

He currently holds several non-executive director posts including Lloyd's of London Franchise Board, Thames Water, Babcock International Group Plc, and JKX Oil and Gas Plc where he is the chairman of the remuneration committee.

At different times he has been: Chief Executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority where he halved the timescale for nuclear decommissioning and reduced the cost to the taxpayer by £1.5 billion; non-executive Director and then Chairman of the FTSE 200 utility company, Viridian Group plc, where the value of the business more than doubled during his tenure, leading to its purchase by an infrastructure fund for an enterprise value of £2 billion; Chief Executive of BP Solar International which he developed into a global business; Chairman of HG Capital Renewable Power Partners LLP ( private equity); and he also was a member of the Government's Renewable Energy Advisory Committee from 1994 to 2002.

Mr Shah is a graduate of the Universities of London and Warwick and of the Harvard Business School management programme. Mr Shah was awarded an OBE in the 2007 New Year Honours List.

Chris Geoghegan

Chris Geoghegan is a government and stakeholder specialist with over 30 years experience. He was formerly Chief Operating Officer of BAESystems where he was responsible for all International Joint Ventures, the Commercial Aerospace activities as well as all UK Defence Electronic businesses. Additionally he assumed Global functional leadership of Commercial and Procurement activities for the BAESystems group.

He currently holds several non-executive director posts: Chairman of Hampson Industries Plc, Senior Independent Director at Kier Group Plc, Senior Independent Director at Volex Plc and SIG Plc.