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The Crown Estate, which controls the ocean floor around Britain's coastline up to a range of 12 nautical miles, is accepting bids for renewable energy projects totalling 800MW in capacity.
There will be two separate sites: a 600MW Offshore Wind Area located off the south east coast of County Down, which will be offered to a single firm, and the Rathlin Island and Torr Head Strategic Area 200MW, a single tidal stream area that will be open to multiple projects up to 100MW in capacity.
The announcement is a significant step forward for Northern Ireland's green sector and the Crown Estate hopes to have completed the tendering process by the end of 2012.
"Separate competitive tendering processes will be undertaken for the offshore wind and tidal projects, which will be run in parallel. Tenders will be assessed on bidders' ability deliver fully operational projects by 2020," it says.
According to Tidal Energy UK, Britain has the potential to generate 20 per cent of its electricity using tidal power.
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