Utrecht, Thursday 6 December 2007 - Evelop acquired a majority interest in LCO Nature. With this transaction Evelop has the rights to develop German offshore wind farms ‘OWP West’ and ‘Albatros’. The two wind farms will have a maximum capacity of 800 MW, representing the production for approximately 800.000 European households.

Together, LCO Nature and Evelop have all the know-how and skills needed to develop offshore wind energy in Germany. These projects will make a significant contribution to achieving the targets the German government has set for renewable energy and will contribute to the mission of Evelop to ensure: a sustainable energy supply for everyone.

‘OWP West’ will be developed 58 kilometres northwest of the island Borkum in the North Sea. It is located in a designated zone for wind energy use between the traffic separation schemes German Bight Western Approach and Terschelling German Bight.

‘Albatros’ is planned to be built later and lies 40 kilometres northwest of ‘OWP West’. The distance to the island Borkum as well as to Helgoland is around 100 kilometres. The water depth at both sites is not exceeding 40 metres. At this point offshore wind farms have never been built at such a depth.

Evelop now has approximately 2800 MW of capacity in its offshore wind pipeline. In the North Sea the 120 MW Q7 wind farm is presently under construction and expected to be operational in March 2008. In Belgium the construction of offshore wind farm ‘Bligh Bank’, with a capacity of 330 MW, is planned to start in 2008. Another project of Evelop, known as the Sheringham Shoal, will generate 315 MW and lies within the British 12 mile zone. Full approvals and financial close are planned in the first half of 2008. In Germany Evelop is also going to develop offshore wind farm ‘Gode Wind I’, together with Plambeck Neue Energien.

Rick Wasser, Director Evelop Renewables says: “The acquisition of LCO Nature is a good match with our European strategy for the coming years to develop and implement 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts of sustainable energy. LCO Nature has an experienced offshore wind team, specialised in project preparation and obtaining concessions.”

Evelop (www.evelop.com)
Evelop is a sustainable energy project developer with one of the largest portfolios of renewable energy assets worldwide. Evelop is involved in developing and realising projects in fields such as: offshore and onshore wind, biomass, solar energy as well as seawater air conditioning and also the development of sustainable energy utility buildings, private housing and infrastructure.

Evelop is part of Econcern, whose mission is: ‘a sustainable energy supply for everyone’. Econcern employs about 900 professionals in 19 countries across the world and ranked #234 in Europe’s 500 listing of high growth, job-creating companies 2007.

LCO Nature (www.lco-nature.de)

The LCO Nature in Hamburg (Germany) is experienced in Eco-Management and Consultancy since 2000 with special focus on the marine environment. During the last 2 years LCO Nature also developed and managed OWP West and Albatros. LCO Nature GmbH supports the entire planning process for the reception of the necessary permits to erect and operate a wind-power plant or other renewable energy projects at sea. Main tasks are the coordination of the marine-technical and marine-ecological surveys as well as preliminary work for the realisation of an offshore wind farm.