EDP and Engie Join Forces to Create a Leading Global Offshore Wind Player

Paris, France and Lisbon, Portugal - Antonio Mexia, EDP CEO and Chairman of EDPR and Isabelle Kocher, Engie CEO, announced the signing of a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to create a co-controlled 50/50 joint-venture (JV) in fixed and floating offshore wind.

The new entity will be the exclusive vehicle of investment of EDP, through its subsidiary EDP Renewables (EDPR), and Engie for offshore wind opportunities worldwide. As the companies point out, the joint-venture is to become a global top-5 player in the field, bringing together the industrial expertise and development capacity of both companies.

Under the terms of the MoU, EDP and Engie, will combine their offshore wind assets and project pipeline in the newly-created JV, starting with a total of 1.5 Gigawatt (GW) under construction and 4.0 GW under development, with the target of reaching 5 to 7 GW of projects in operation or construction and 5 to 10 GW under advanced development by 2025.

For EDP and Engie, offshore wind energy is becoming an essential part of the global energy transition, leading to the market’s rapid growth and increased competitiveness. The companies believe that creating an entity with greater scale and a fully dedicated team, with global business development reach and strong power purchase agreement origination capabilities, will allow them to grow their asset base more rapidly and to operate more efficiently assuring a stable partnership.

The JV will primarily target markets in Europe, the United States and selected geographies in Asia, where most of the growth is expected to come from. The JV’s ambition is to be self-financed and the projects that will be developed will respect the investment criteria of both companies.

This ambitious alliance follows EDPR and Engie’s successful six-year cooperation as consortium partners in the Dieppe Le Tréport and Yeu Noirmoutier fixed offshore wind projects in France and Moray East and Moray West in the UK. EDPR and Engie are also partners in 2 floating offshore wind projects in France and Portugal and in the Dunkerque offshore wind tender currently ongoing in France.

Source: IWR Online, 22 May 2019