Canadian energy company Enbridge announced last week that it has invested in the 400 MW UK Rampion Offshore Wind Project.
The 400 MW project is currently being developed by European developer E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Limited, which secured the contract alongside Vestas in May of this year.
Enbridge announced that it has acquired a 24.9 percent interest in the 400 MW project, making its total investment in the project to be around CAD $750 million.
“Offshore wind is a natural next step for Enbridge’s significant wind business,” said Enbridge President and Chief Executive Officer Al Monaco.
“We have a well-established renewables business and growing expertise in wind power technology, construction and operations and this project provides an attractive opportunity to partner with E.ON, an industry leading constructor and operator of offshore wind projects, and Green Investment Bank with its experience of supporting offshore wind ventures. Further developing our expertise in this business will position Enbridge to participate in future offshore developments.”
Enbridge is positioning itself to grow its new involvement in the UK wind industry, which the company expects will lead the way for the European offshore wind industry, which is expected to take in some €100 billion of investment over the next decade.
“Our investment in Rampion Offshore Wind is a strong fit with our investor value proposition and advances a number of key corporate priorities,” added Mr. Monaco.
The Rampion Offshore Wind Project, located 13 kilometers off the UK Sussex coast, will be comprised of 116 Vestas V112-3.45 MW turbines, and is already under construction since September, with completion expected by 2018. Enbridge’s investment in the project rests alongside revenue from the UK’s fixed price Renewable Obligation Certificates program and a 15-year power purchase agreement.
“Rampion provides a timely and effective entry point to the European offshore wind business and it supports our objective of developing new platforms that extend and diversify our industry leading growth beyond 2019,” continued Mr Monaco. “The European offshore wind business comes with strong market fundamentals, sound commercial underpinnings and attractive returns. Once the project goes into service in 2018, we expect it to be immediately accretive to available cash flow from operations and earnings per share.”
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Autonomous Drones for Better Farming
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
