Following news that emerged yesterday, saying the Blauwwind consortium partners (excluding Van Oord) are looking to sell a stake in the 700MW Borssele III & IV project, Offshore WIND contacted Eneco who stated that the partners are exploring options to attract additional investors in the project to free up capital for future offshore wind projects.
“The consortium-partners of Eneco Group, Diamond Generating Europe (100% subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation) and Shell are exploring options to attract additional investors in the Borssele III/IV project. This is part of a planned assessment by the consortium on how to best fund the project and future offshore wind projects for the long term,” an Eneco spokesperson said in a statement.
“Offshore wind projects require substantial capital and attracting solid additional investors allows each partner to free up capital to invest in new projects in future. We are in the energy transition for the long-haul and broad-based support will help continuity in the long-term,” the statement reads.
According to Bloomberg, who first reported the news, sources familiar with the plan revealed Shell, Eneco and DGE/ Mitsubishi Corp. plan to reduce their ownership of the project by 45%. Also according to the unnamed sources, Shell owns 50%, Eneco 30%, while Van Oord and DGE/ Mitsubishi each hold a share of 10% of Borssele III & IV.
The Blauwwind II C.V. consortium won the tender to develop the two sites in the Borssele Zone in December 2016 by offering a price of 5.45 Eurocents per kilowatt hour.
The wind farm is expected to be constructed and operated with a government subsidy of just EUR 300 million. The originally anticipated subsidy was EUR 5 billion.
At the time of the tender award, the Dutch government said that, with the current energy price outlook, Borssele III & IV can be operated without subsidy after 7.5 years.
The wind farm, located some 22 kilometres off the coast of the Netherlands, will feature MHI Vestas wind turbines.