Areva bows out as Adwen offshore wind stake passes to Gamesa

The Areva offshore wind adventure has now officially ended

Andrew Lee in London

French nuclear group Areva has formally ended its adventure in offshore wind power by completing the sale of its 50% stake in the Adwen joint venture to former partner Gamesa.

The €60m ($63.3m) sale was agreed in September 2016, forming part of the giant deal that is set to see Gamesa itself merge with the wind power business of Germany’s Siemens. That transaction is currently awaiting clearance from EU competition authorities, with the status of Adwen set to form part of their evaluation.

Adwen – now fully-owned by Gamesa – will take on commitments made under French offshore wind tenders, said Areva, which formed the JV with the Spanish in early 2015.

Before that under its own steam Areva had secured 1.5GW of future capacity in its domestic market and made significant inroads into the German offshore wind sector, where its 5MW turbines were installed at the pioneering Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm.

Financially-troubled state-controlled Areva – which at the end of the last decade had big ambitions to be a major offshore wind player and was eyeing a factory in the UK – today said the sale is “part of the transformation plan undertaken…to refocus its business on nuclear fuel cycle activities.”

Like one-time competitor Alstom, whose wind business is now owned by GE, the company’s name passes into the history of the French offshore wind equipment sector, which is now controlled by US and – for the moment – Spanish players.