Offshore grid looking for Mid-East funds

A £4.8 billion offshore energy grid stretching from the Orkney islands to Norfolk could receive investment from two Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.

According to the Independent, Scottish Development International (SDI), an inward investment agency, has been in discussions with the funds, one of which is from the United Arab Emirates, for two months.

Under EU plans, 20 per cent of the UK’s energy must come from renewable sources by 2020, and SDI’s senior executive for renewable energy development said the grid would accelerate the move towards this target.

Establishing the grid would facilitate the exploitation of 60GW of "untapped potential" in offshore energy, almost double the 33GW that is consumed by all domestic households in the UK.

The Crown Estate, which owns the seabed, has already conducted a feasibility study which estimated the cost of an east coast grid at £1.7 billion initially, rising to £4.8 billion as more phases were added.

Last year, energy secretary John Hutton said: "The UK is now the number one location for investment in offshore wind in the world and next year we will overtake Denmark as the country with the most offshore wind capacity."