Introduction
On 16 March 2010, The Crown Estate announced that we had entered into agreements for lease for projects with a potential capacity of up to 1,200 MW in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. This followed a competitive leasing round for demonstration and commercial scale project sites which saw considerable interest from industry.
The Pentland Firth and Orkney waters is the first area to be made available for commercial-scale development of wave and tidal energy in Scotland and indeed the whole of the UK. The projects are believed to represent the largest planned development of wave and tidal energy worldwide.
Background
We announced plans to hold a leasing competition in the Pentland Firth strategic area in September 2008. Initial proposals for projects were invited from developers in November 2008, under the first round of a leasing competition with a nominal target capacity of 700 MW. Responses to this invitation were very positive and thirty-eight pre-qualified companies and consortia were subsequently invited to apply for leases.
In May 2009, we announced that forty-two applications had been received from twenty bidders, which ranged from small development companies to multi-national energy firms. The associated projects were of a range of sizes, from 10 MW demonstration sites up to 200-300 MW commercial sites.
Negotiations with preferred bidders were concluded in March 2010, prior to the announcement of the agreements for lease. Agreements for lease have been entered into for six wave project development sites and four tidal ones. The total maximum capacity of these sites is 1,200 MW, half of which is for the wave projects and half for the tidal ones.
For a map of Pentland Firth and Orkney waters projects, please follow the link:
 Pentland Firth and Orkney waters Round 1 projects PDF (390 KB)
Next steps
As well as providing agreements for lease, we are planning to support development of the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters projects by creating an enabling actions fund. This will comprise the option fees charged to the developers to secure sites for commercial-scale developments and match funding provided by The Crown Estate. The fund will be used to support work which accelerates the pace of development. The scope of this work has yet to be confirmed but relevant topics include health and safety, environmental assessment, planning and consents, grid infrastructure and supply chain development.
In addition, we are a member of the Pentland Firth coordination committee, alongside the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Highland Council and Orkney Islands Council. The committee’s purpose is to co-ordinate the ways in which the member organisations are supporting development of the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters projects.
Inner Sound
On 31 March 2010 we announced that we will be inviting expressions of interest for a project in the Inner Sound.
The Inner Sound lies between the Scottish mainland and the island of Stroma. As one of the most energetic tidal areas in the Pentland Firth, it has potential for a significant commercial project.
To download a map of the area, please follow the link:
Inner Sound map PDF (220 KB)
For more information, please visit the associated press release by following the link under 'Announcements'.
To visit The Crown Estate’s e-tendering site please follow the link:
 The Crown Estate e-tendering
Announcements
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