The Crown Estate will invest up to £1.4m in key surveys and reports, including scoping reports, geophysical surveys and bird and mammal surveys.
SERL and the Crown Estate will now seek to finalize a formal development agreement in respect of these arrangements.
The Inch Cape site was awarded to a consortium comprised of RWE npower and SERL in February 2009 as a part of the Scottish Territorial Waters leasing round conducted by the Crown Estate in association with the Scottish government.
Following the site award, the consortium entered into an exclusivity agreement with the Crown Estate providing rights to enter into an agreement for lease once the Scottish government had concluded the Strategic Environmental Assessment process, and earlier this year, RWE npower decided to exit the Inch Cape project.
