Masdar Invests in Offshore Wind Farm; Expanding its Presence in the UK Wind Energy Market

Today, Masdar announced its partnership with Norway’s Statoil and Statkraft in a 402 MW offshore wind farm project, off the Norfolk coast in Eastern England. Masdar acquired a 35 percent stake in the project from Statoil. This leaves Statoil retaining a 35 percent stake and remaining operator of the project, with the remaining 30 percent owned by Statkraft. 

“As the only OPEC nation supplying both traditional and renewable energy to international markets, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is committed to accelerating the use of wind energy as an effective means of balancing the global energy mix as we move toward a sustainable, low carbon future,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, chairman of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company.

The investment was announced on the sidelines of the United Nations’ Climate Change Summit taking place in New York, in the presence of Dr. Sultan Al Jaber,  Helge Lund (Statoil, CEO), Christian Rynning-Tonnesen (Statkraft, CEO), and Ed Davey (UK Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change).  

Masdar’s stake in Dudgeon is the company’s second major investment in the UK offshore wind energy market. The company also has a 20 percent stake in the 630 megawatt London Array project, the world’s largest offshore wind farm. “Combined with London Array, Dudgeon puts Masdar at the forefront of offshore wind development in the UK,” said Dr. Al Jaber. “It will significantly contribute to the expansion of the UK’s renewable energy capacity. It also reinforces the UAE and the UK’s shared commitment to drive the growth of the renewable energy sector.”

When completed, Dudgeon will provide clean, reliable energy to approximately 410,000 households in the UK. Offshore construction is scheduled to start in 2016 and the project is expected to be fully operational in late 2017.

Helge Lund, CEO of Statoil said: “The Dudgeon Project represents an important part of Statoil’s renewable energy strategy, and it will generate value to the owners, the offshore wind industry and the UK community. Statoil brings extensive offshore competence, while Statkraft brings expertise from the power generation industry. Masdar’s experience and ambitions within renewable energy will add to the quality in this project.”

Energy and Climate Change

Secretary Ed Davey said: “Masdar’s investment is a strong endorsement of the UK as the best place in the world to invest in offshore wind – and it shows the Government’s plan for green growth is working. Since 2010 we have seen, on average, £7 billion a year invested in renewables and we expect to see up to £50 billion more between now and 2020.”

The decision to become a partner in Dudgeon underscores Masdar’s belief that the UK represents a major market for investment in offshore wind energy. It also extends the UAE’s leadership as a major provider of energy. Dudgeon adds to Masdar’s broad portfolio of existing clean energy projects. This includes one of the world’s largest CSP plants – the 100MW Shams 1 in the UAE – and the 117MW Tafila wind farm in Jordan, alongside numerous other projects. Collectively, they illustrate how the UAE is leading the Middle East’s response in accelerating the deployment and adoption of clean energy around the world.

The UK is the world’s leader of installed, offshore wind power capacity. The UK government recently agreed to financially support eight new, large-scale renewable energy projects that will power millions of homes – five of them being offshore wind farms. The projects are expected to add 4.5 gigawatt of clean energy capacity to the grid – enough to power more than three million homes. The Dudgeon wind farm is one of the five wind farms being built.

In January, Siemens was awarded two contracts, valued at £516 million (AED 3.1 billion) for the engineering, supply, assembly, commissioning and service of Dudgeon’s 67 wind turbine generators.