Mainstream Renewable Power, the giant green energy group based in the
Republic of Ireland, is set to land a huge ‘planning gain’ windfall from
selling on its £2 billlion offshore Scottish wind farm – without building a
single turbine tower in this country.
Mainstream has put its 450-megawatt wind parc – which would be capable of
powering all homes in a city the size of Edinburgh – on the market.
Backed all the way by the SNP-led minority Scot-Govt – which approved the
plan – Neart na Gaoithe benefits from a 15-year,
inflation-linked guaranteed power supply agreement (CfD) into the UK grid.
Industry analysts forecast the off-Fife wind-farm will sell for a
“multiple” of an abortive €100 million deal stuck two years ago after the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) launched an ultimately
unsuccessful legal battle to stop construction of Neart na Gaoithe.
Now Mainstream has hired KPMG to sell a controlling stake in the Scottish
project. The surge in the equity value of the scheme in the past two years
stems from a slump during the period in the cost of producing energy from
offshore turbines and a surge in investors chasing green-energy assets.
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