Abu Dhabi Future Energy (Masdar) and German utility company RWE have agreed to create joint ventures (JV) to co-develop the latter’s 3GW Dogger Bank South (DBS) offshore wind farm projects in the UK with an investment of £11bn.
In this regard, the UAE-based clean energy company will acquire a 49% stake in the proposed offshore wind facilities in the North Sea from RWE.
RWE will retain the remaining 51% and will oversee the development, construction, and operation throughout the life cycle of the projects.
Masdar will compensate RWE for 49% of the development expenses incurred so far.
The agreement between the parties was signed during the ongoing UN’s climate change conference (COP28) in Dubai, UAE. Subject to receipt of customary approvals, the transaction is anticipated to be completed in Q1 2024.
Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said: “Masdar is very proud to be partnering with RWE to develop one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms.
“We are delighted to have come onboard at the early stages of this pioneering project, enabling us to leverage our shared passion and expertise in renewables.”
To be built approximately 100km off the northeastern coast of England, the Dogger Bank South projects will produce clean energy to power three million typical UK households.
The offshore wind projects will be split across two sites, namely the DBS East Array and the DBS West Array. Each facility will span 500km2 and have a capacity of 1.5GW.
Construction phase of the Dogger Bank South projects is likely to commence as early as late 2025. The first 800MW of electricity from the projects is targeted to come online in 2029.
The two offshore wind farms are anticipated to be fully commissioned by the end of 2031.
They will generate 2,000 jobs during construction and over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs through their operational phase.
RWE CEO Markus Krebber said: “We’re delighted to welcome Masdar onboard as our partner and co-investor in the delivery of our Dogger Bank South projects which, at 3GW in size, make up RWE’s largest offshore wind development in the UK.
“With Masdar, we have a strong and renowned partner at our side who shares our ambition to further drive the growth of offshore wind energy.”
Separately, Masdar alongside EDF has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Energy of Kyrgyzstan during the COP28 climate summit to develop up to 3.6GW of hydropower and renewable energy projects.
Furthermore, during the climate change conference, Masdar agreed to an implementation roadmap for advancing the development of 10GW of clean energy projects in Malaysia.
