Atlantis Resources said it decided to hand back the AFLs after an internal project portfolio and site assessment review. The company will now prioritise other sites that are currently under construction and/or closer to reaching financial close.

Tim Cornelius, cheif executive of Atlantis, said: “This strategy will enable us to focus our resources on our most developed sites in order to drive progress and deliver continuous, clean, and predictable supplies of energy, quickly and at scale, to power homes and business throughout the UK and contribute towards the UK’s energy infrastructure needs.

“Due to the abundance of natural resource and a supportive government, Wales remains a jurisdiction of high interest to Atlantis and we will continue to actively seek out commercially and financially viable project development and investment opportunities and would welcome commercial approaches from any developer with commercial scale project locations in Wales.”

Survey work and data from both project sites will be made publicly available through The Crown Estate’s Marine Data Exchange.

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The concept will be piloted by the world’s first floating wind farm, the Hywind pilot park off the coast of Aberdeenshire, to help develop the technology for implementation in full-scale offshore wind farms. The wind park is currently under construction and expected to be commissioned in 2018. Statoil will install a 1MWh Lithium battery based storage pilot system in late 2018.

Batwind will be developed in co-operation with Scottish universities and suppliers, under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Edinburgh on 18 March between Statoil, the Scottish Government, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and Scottish Enterprise.

Stephen Bull, Statoil’s senior vice president for offshore wind, said: “Through the Batwind concept, we can optimise the energy system from wind park to grid, applying advanced data analytics. Battery storage represents a new application in our offshore wind portfolio, contributing to realising our ambition of profitable growth in this area.”

Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: “This will help maximise the renewable generation of the Hywind offshore wind farm, whilst informing the case for energy storage and demonstrating the technology’s ability to support renewables in Scotland and internationally.”

Andrew Jamieson, Chief Executive of ORE Catapult, said: “We are developing a programme that will match Scottish supply chain capabilities and research excellence with the technology challenges of developing innovative battery storage solutions, ensuring Scotland and the wider UK benefits from the economic opportunities presented by this internationally important project.”

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