http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/4160/

Spanish oil company Repsol has agreed to purchase Scottish offshore wind developer SeaEnergy Renewables from parent company SeaEnergy for £50 million.

If approved by shareholders, the deal will see Repsol Nuevas Energias form a consortium with compatriot EDP Renováveis to develop two of SeaEnergy Renewables' offshore wind farm sites.

EDP already holds a 75% stake in one of those developments, the 1.3 GW Moray Firth wind farm project. Under the deal, SeaEnergy Renewables will own 33% of the project, with EDP the remaining 67%.

The other development, the 0.9 GW Inch Cape wind farm in the Firth of Tay, will be split between Repsol (51%) and EDP (49%).

SeaEnergy Renewables, which was founded just three years ago in 2008, has run at a loss since then and been funded by inter-company loans from SeaEnergy.

"We created a business out of nothing but a concept, and three years later it has been valued at £50 million," says SeaEnergy executive chair Steve Remp. "The time is right for us to capitalise on this success. This deal allows us to continue to participate in the fast-growing UK and European offshore wind markets, and to build on our enviable track record of working with some of the world's biggest companies."

SeaEnergy says it will now focus in particular on its offshore renewables marine services business, SeaEnergy Marine, which operates maintenance, infrastructure and equipment installation vessels.

"We believe that our nascent marine business has a unique vessel concept that will make a material difference to the commercial economics of offshore wind. We look forward to pursuing this exciting opportunity," says Remp.