An energy investment company is to sell off its oil and gas interests and focus solely on its offshore wind operations, it has announced
Ramco Energy said it believed the opportunities offered by offshore wind power were “truly enormous”.
The company, which is based in Aberdeen, will also rename itself as SeaEnergy.
It has secured a total of £7.5m of funding from Lanstead, which will become a 22% shareholder in the group.
Stephen Remp, executive chairman of Ramco Energy, said its subsidiary SERL had already secured 456MW of offshore wind farm acreage alongside large utility partners.
Investment funds
He said: “The offshore wind opportunity is truly enormous, with over £130bn pounds of investment envisaged over the next 11 years through the Scottish and UK offshore rounds.”
Ramco Energy said cleantech and green-focused investment funds were reluctant to invest in the group while it retained its focus on oil and gas.
Lanstead is committed to investing £5m, and an additional £2.55m which is subject to shareholder approval at its general meeting.
Ramco Energy also announced interim results for the first half of the year, with a pre-tax loss of £2.5m compared with a loss of £1.2m in the same period last year.
Scottish Energy Minister Jim Mather said: “Today’s announcement is further evidence of the enormous potential of offshore wind in Scottish waters, which can play a very significant role in a renewables-led economic recovery.
“In becoming the only quoted pure play offshore wind company on the London markets, Seaenergy plc reinforces the already powerful signal that Scotland is the place to be for all forms of offshore renewables.”
An industry report last week predicted there could be more than 12,000 jobs in Scottish marine renewables by 2020.