The European Commission has approved the restructuring of ownership over the Seastar and Mermaid offshore wind farms to be built in the Belgian North Sea.
The proposed transaction will see the creation of a joint venture between Otary RS, the Eneco group, through Eneco Wind Belgium, and the Engie group, through Electrabel.
According to the Commission, the proposed transaction would raise no particular competition concerns because of the pre-existing ownership rights of the companies over the wind farm concessions in question and the existence of other similar projects either under development or for which new concessions have been announced.
The transaction is said to be examined under the normal merger review procedure.
The 246MW Mermaid and the 246MW Seastar offshore wind farms will comprise 58 Siemens Gamesa turbines , with a rotor diameter of 167m, on monopile foundations and two offshore substations connected to ELIA’s Modular Offshore Grid.
The two projects are expected to be completed by 2020.