Mainstream Renewable Power has initiated a dispute against a decision by the UK’s Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) to terminate a Contract for Difference (CFD) awarded to the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm.
Mainstream is the developer of the 448 project in the outer Forth Estuary, Scotland, which has suffered delays because of a legal challenge to the project by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
The delay means that the project missed a milestone deadline in March, causing LCCC to issue Mainstream with a termination notice for the CFD. The project would not be able to go ahead without the CFD subsidy, worth £114/MWh.
Mainstream and LCCC are now in arbitration. Mainstream says that it "strongly disputes the validity of the termination notice".
The RSPB says that the Neart na Gaoith wind farm and three other similar projects threaten the lives of thousands of birds. Edinburgh’s Court of Session held a hearing in March but the judge has yet to make a ruling.
Mainstream announced in January 2016 that it was in exclusive discussions with a consortium of financial partners about funding the project. The partners include Siemens Project Ventures, Infrared Capital and the Marguerite Fund.
