Cornwall Council has sold a renewable energy test site to a Swedish windfarm developer for an undisclosed sum.

Hexicon, has bought the Wave Hub offshore renewable energy test site off Cornwall's north coast.

The Wave Hub site lies 16 km north of St Ives and Carbis Bay, where world leaders will gather for the G7 summit in just a few weeks’ time on June 11-13.

The deal, which is expected to complete at the end of May, will see Hexicon, through its UK subsidiary, TwinHub Limited, acquire the assets of Wave Hub Limited from local authority, Cornwall Council, for an undisclosed sum.

Hexicon intends to develop the site for a 30-40MW floating offshore wind project and deploy their innovative twin-turbine floating foundation.

The team will look to establish how the technology could be brought to market, and explore the roles that local suppliers could play during investigative works, in fabrication and assembly, mooring, and installations, as well as serving the long-term needs of the floating offshore wind industry.

Read Next:

The project will be seen as a coup for Cornwall, which has a significant offshore renewable energy supply chain and has worked hard to position the maritime region as a base for floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea, where The Crown Estate recently announced its intention to deliver a new floating wind leasing opportunity for projects of circa 300MW.

The deal does not include Wave Hub Development Services as Cornwall Council will retain this as a wholly-owned business, to provide support to the TwinHub project and other Celtic Sea deployments.

Steve Jermy, Chair of Wave Hub Development Services and a director of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: "This is a milestone agreement with Hexicon to bring their innovative floating wind technology to Cornwall.

"It will be the first such project in the Celtic Sea and kick-start our regional ambition to see our 3GW installed by 2030, which could create thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of pounds for local economies."

Hexicon chief executive Marcus Thor said: "Hexicon has been active in UK floating wind market since 2014 and sees the acquisition of Wave Hub and the deployment of our twin turbine technology in the Celtic Sea as an essential stepping stone to fulfilling our long term ambition of developing utility scale floating wind projects capable of delivery long term consistent and secure renewable energy at the lowest possible levelised cost of energy."

Read Next:

Cornwall Council Strategic Director Economic Growth and Development Phil Mason said: "The signing of this sale of Wave Hub is an important milestone, demonstrating that Cornwall has a part to play in the future of the offshore wind industry and also Cornwall’s ability to attract inward investment and deliver environmental and economic benefits for our residents.

"The government is strongly backing the development of offshore wind and has set ambitious targets for deployment, energy generation and increasing the UK content of offshore wind projects. "This is a recognition of the crucial role that offshore wind will play in the future energy landscape as we move towards a carbon neutral future and what is a huge industrial opportunity for the UK economy.

"We look forward to working with Hexicon and Bechtel following completion of the sale."

LEP chair, Mark Duddridge, said: "This international project is a huge stepping stone to delivering gigawatts of power from the Celtic Sea and achieving Cornwall’s ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030.

"With the world’s G7 leaders meeting in Cornwall in just a few weeks’ time this is an opportunity to show the world how Cornwall can contribute to the Green Industrial Revolution."