RWE npower renewables and SeaEnergy Renewables are working together in a joint venture on the proposed Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. Inch Cape is one of 10 successful projects identified in the Scottish Territorial Waters tendering round, run by the Crown Estate. In January 2009 RWE npower renewables and SeaEnergy Renewables were given exclusivity to take forward a proposal to develop the Inch Cape site¹.

The offshore wind farm will be located approximately 15.5km off the Angus coastline at its closest point in the Outer Firth of Tay, Scotland. The preliminary designs include 181 turbines and up to three offshore substations.

With a current capacity of approximately 905 MW the project has the potential to produce enough renewable energy to meet the domestic needs of around 660,00 average Scottish households².

Inch Cape is one of four projects being developed specifically in the Outer Firth of Forth and Tay following the Scottish Territorial Waters tendering round as well as one large Round 3 wind farm zone outside of territorial waters. The development companies are working together to ensure their proposals are sensitive to a variety of important issues. The Scottish Government is also undertaking a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment which will consider issues relating to all proposed developments within Scottish waters.

The Inch Cape proposal takes account of:

Water depth – this can affect the economics of the project and its installation

Shipping and navigation – designed to avoid the busiest shipping routes

Proximity to the coast – the project is positioned close to the Scottish territorial limit in order to minimise its visual impact

Wind resource – the Firth of Forth and Tay has a good average wind speed, currently estimated at 9.52 m/s

Environmental factors - sited sensitively to mitigate against possible impacts to birds, marine mammals, fish and other fauna

^Footnotes

^{1) Subject to the outcome of the Scottish Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process
which is currently being undertaken.}

^{2) Predicted annual generation from the wind farm of 2,915,000,000 kWh per year divided by
the average annual electricity consumption of a Scottish household of 4,410 kWh per year
= 660,000 homes.}

^{Annual electricity consumptions of a Scottish household is derived from a total Scottish
domestic electricity consumption of 12,001 terawatt-hours (TWh) divided by 2.72 million
individual domestic customers in Scotland (The Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2009).}