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The UAE’s renewable energy company, Masdar, has signed a deal to acquire a 49% stake in German utility RWE’s wind farm projects that will be developed off the coast of England.
The agreement, which was signed on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai on Friday, brings together two clean energy players in an £11 billion ($13.9 billion) investment into the UK’s renewable energy sector, the UAE firm said in a statement.
The projects, dubbed the Dogger Bank South (DBS), form one of the world’s largest planned offshore wind farms that will have a capacity of 3 gigawatts, enough to power approximately 3 million British homes.
Construction is planned to start as early as end of 2025, with the first 800MW likely to come online in 2029 and the entire development to be fully commissioned by end of 2031.
Agreement
As part of the agreement, Masdar will take a 49% stake in the projects, while RWE, with a 51% share, will remain in charge of development, construction and operation throughout the life cycle of the projects.
Masdar said the transaction, which is subject to customary approvals, will close in the first quarter of 2024.
“The £11 billion joint investment will provide a huge boost to the UK economy and demonstrates the UAE’s long-term commitment to supporting net-zero goals in Britain and around the world,” the statement said.
“It builds on the £10 billion UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership (UK-UAE SIP) to invest in technology, infrastructure and the energy transition.
The projects are predicted to create 2,000 jobs during construction and more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs during operations.
Located more than 100 kilometres off the northeastern coast of England, the DBS offshore wind farms will be split across two sites, each will have the capacity of 1.5GW and span 500 square kilometres.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
