SCOTTISHPOWER has added engineer Technip to its consortium bidding for two offshore wind farms in France on the day the French company opened a new office in Aberdeen.

ScottishPower Renewables, owned by Spanish power giant Iberdrola, and France’s Areva recently announced they are teaming up to bid for wind farms with 1.25GW of capacity.Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower Renewables and head of Iberdrola’s Glasgow-based Global Offshore Division, said: “As a well-established company with a strong presence in France and in all major energy capitals they are an ideal partner to help us bid for these projects.”

The consortium is seeking to secure a site off Saint-Brieuc in northern Brittany which has the potential for 500 megawatts of power and at Saint-Nazaire, a 750MW site off the Atlantic coast.

Ron Cookson, senior vice president for Technip Offshore Wind, said: “Joining the consortium represents a key milestone and is indicative of our commitment to this sector.”

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Technip’s decision to headquarter its European offshore wind business in Aberdeen signals the leading role that Scotland is playing in the development and deployment of leading-edge clean energy generation.”

He said that the deal with ScottishPower “underlines that the expertise being developed in Scotland can help harness not only the natural resources off our own coast, but the massive clean, energy resources around the world”.