£461m investment in UK offshore wind sector

The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has announced two equity investments in the UK offshore wind sector totalling nearly half-a-billion pounds.

GIB is investing alongside Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to jointly purchase a 50% stake in the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm from DONG Energy. GIB is committing £241m to the £500m transaction.

The Westermost Rough project, currently in the early stages of construction off the coast of Yorkshire, will utilise Siemens’ next generation 6MW direct drive turbines which are almost twice the size of the majority of wind turbines operating in UK waters.

This is the first time these new turbines will be commercially deployed in the UK and the project is the first time that GIB has taken construction risk in an investment.

Once operational, Westermost Rough will generate over 800GWh of net renewable electricity, equivalent to the electricity consumption of about 200,000 homes, a city the size of York.

GIB has also agreed to acquire a 10% stake in the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm from RWE Innogy at a price of £220m. The project, off the coast of north Wales, is in the late stages of construction.

Gwynt y Môr is the largest offshore wind farm under construction in Europe. Once operational it will generate over 1,700 GWh of net renewable electricity each year.

The proceeds of both sales are expected to be reinvested back into renewable energy projects in the UK.

For more information, help or advice please contact Andrew Davison on 0191 211 7950.