French energy group Engie and Portugal’s EDP will pool their offshore wind resources in a new joint venture that aims to be one of the global leaders in the sector, the two said on Tuesday.
The 50/50 JV will be the “exclusive vehicle of investment” for the two companies in offshore wind, spanning both fixed-bottom and floating foundations, they said.
Between them Engie and EDP, via its EDPR renewables subsidiary, will kick-start the JV with 1.5GW under construction and 4GW in development.
They hope to have an operational base of 5GW-7GW operating or in construction by 2025, equivalent to investments between between €15-21bn ($16.8bn-23.4bn) over the next six years, with up to 10GW more under advanced development, establishing it as a “global top-5 player in the field”.
Engie and EDP did not reveal the name of the new joint venture, although they indicated one has been chosen and that it will be based in Madrid. They did, however, name its leadership. The CEO will be Spyros Martinis Spettel, currently chief operating officer at EDPR. Engie's Grzegorz Gorski, now Engie's managing director of centralised generation, will be the JV's chief operating operating officer.
“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,” said the partners.
The two companies are long-standing partners in French offshore wind, and more recently in the 950MW Moray East off Scotland, where Engie and EDPR control a two-thirds stake between them.
The two are currently jointly competing in the Dunkirk offshore wind tender currently underway in France.
The new JV will inherit a diverse set of offshore wind interests, spanning California, the US East Coast and Western Europe.
The link-up also creates a new global floating wind heavyweight to rank alongside sector pioneer Equinor. Engie and EDPR both have interests in floating foundation projects via demonstrator projects off France and Portugal. Gorski said earlier this year that the French group wants to do for the floating wind sector what Orsted has already done in fixed-foundations.
Engie CEO Isabelle Kocher said:“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.”
The new venture is due to be up and running by the end of this year, subject to various approvals.
