Portuguese energy company EDP and French electric utility ENGIE have agreed to form an offshore wind joint venture (offshore wind JV) by combining their respective offshore wind assets and project pipeline.
The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a co-controlled 50/50 JV to combine fixed and floating offshore wind projects.
The new entity, which will hold the assets, will be the exclusive investment vehicle of EDP, via its subsidiary EDP Renewables (EDPR), and ENGIE, for pursuing offshore wind opportunities across the world. The offshore wind JV partners expect the new entity to rank among the top five players in the offshore wind market by leveraging on their industrial expertise and development capacity.
EDP and ENGIE said that forming an entity with greater scale and a fully dedicated team, with business development reach across the world and strong origination capabilities for power purchase agreements, will enable them to expand their asset base more rapidly and to operate more efficiently.
The offshore wind JV, which is targeted to be operational by the year end, will mainly target markets across Europe, the US and certain regions in Asia, where most of the growth is likely to come from.
ENGIE CEO Isabelle Kocher said: “We are delighted to announce this strategic alliance in offshore wind with EDP that we have been partnering with since 2013. The offshore wind sector is set to grow very significantly by 2030.
“The creation of this JV will enable us to seize market opportunities while increasing our competitiveness on one of our key growth drivers, renewables.”
Portfolio of EDP, ENGIE offshore wind JV
To begin with, the assets of the EDP, ENGIE offshore wind JV will feature 1.5GW of offshore wind facilities under construction, which includes 100% of the 950MW Moray East wind farm, 487MW SeaMade wind farm and the 25MW Wind Float Atlantic project, along with 100% of 4.0GW assets under development. Some of the offshore wind projects under development include the 1.5GW Mayflower 992MW Tréport & Noirmoutier wind farm, the 800-950MW Moray West wind farm, and the 400MW B&C Wind project.
The new offshore wind JV will aim at achieving 5-7GW of projects in operation or construction and 5-10GW under advanced development by the year 2025.
EDP CEO António Mexia said: “We are confident that this partnership will reinforce our distinctive position in renewables allowing us to accelerate our path in offshore wind, one of the key growth vectors in the next decade.”
