The funding will underpin plans toerect a prototype onshore in the Netherlands and carry out testing by 2015,followed by installation of a pair of the downwind machines in the waters offMethil, Scotland.

The funding consortium backing 2-BEnergy's concept, which promises to carve 35% out of the current cost ofoffshore wind energy, is made up a group of multi-national private and publicsector partners, including investment bank Truffle Capital, venture capitalistPPM Oost, oil major Shell, Rabobank, Dutch enterprise agency AgentschapNL, andthe UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change and Scottish Enterprise.

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