Caley Thistle insider slams ‘bombshell’ move as Norwegian renewables giant Statkraft walks away from deal worth £1.4m-£1.7m to the club
In another staggering blow for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, a Norwegian renewables giant confirmed it is walking away from a previously agreed deal worth between £1.4 million and £1.7 million over five years to the club.
Statkraft bought out what was the Red John hydro scheme on Loch Ness from Intelligent Land Investments (ILI), renaming it Loch na Cathrach, which included an option for a park-and-ride for works traffic to meet a planning condition.
But the Norwegian company now has “been unable to reach a commercial agreement with Inverness Caledonian Thistle” and “intend to seek an alternative location for our park and ride scheme in Inverness”.
Sources within Caley Thistle are furious claiming the Norwegian company may still owe the club £350,000 for extending the option on the site from April to the end of June, labelling the move as “bombshell”.
The club is also late with its books, which must be signed off by accountants and that may be linked to not being able to book that £350,000. If the accounts can’t be signed off then the club cannot be licenced to play by the SPFL.
In emails seen by the Courier, the Statkraft say the price agreed with ILI for the park-and-ride facility is expensive compared to local market rates and will now seek an alternative.
Another reason given by the company in the email is that it wants to seek UK government funding and an application would be intensively costed by officials so a lower price is needed.
The UK government’s Long Duration Energy Storage support scheme aims to bridge the gap between huge upfront costs that may take years to earn back – such as with hydro schemes.
Club insiders said they feel betrayed: “It is horrible what they have done, it was agreed, it was accepted and now we feel we have been used to get planning permission.
“We feel this is a bombshell for the club at this stage when we were expecting the sum of £350,000 and they still need a park and ride.
“To do this at this late stage when it was agreed in June 2023 for a huge company, is deeply disappointing.
“We fully understand that this is an option agreement but the time for negotiations is long past.”
A spokesman for Statkraft said: “Statkraft have been unable to reach a commercial agreement with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
“We intend to seek an alternative location for our park and ride scheme in Inverness, which will reduce traffic to the construction site, while also ensuring economic benefits remain in the local area. We do not anticipate any delays to the project.”
