E.ON to flog stake in wind farms to private firms
EU energy behemoth will finance new plant every 18 months
Posted in Environment, 19th March 2012 08:02 GMT


Energy giant E.ON is to seek private investment for three large offshore wind farms, it has announced. The investment would be in addition to the €2 billion it said it will invest itself in the projects.

The company said that it was looking at ways of creating "more value with less capital" as it announced the €2bn in three major offshore wind farms over the next five years.

"This means, for example, that we'll no longer be both operator and sole owner of wind farms. Instead, we'll create value through wind-farm design, planning, construction and operation," it said in its annual report (208-page / 1.5MB PDF).

The company said that it had plans to commission a new offshore wind farm "every 18 months" in the UK, Germany and Sweden, while at the same time reducing the costs of building and operating these assets "significantly".

Its new business model will see E.ON ...

Germany: TenneT and Mitsubishi Sign LoI for Two More Offshore Grid Connections




TenneT and Mitsubishi Corporation have signed a letter of intent to partner up in two more offshore grid connections. The grid connections, named HelWin2 and DolWin2, are both located in the German North Sea and of crucial importance for the integration of renewable energy in the German onshore grid.



In February of this year, TenneT and MC reached commercial agreement on MC’s equity investment in TenneT’s BorWin 1 and BorWin 2 offshore grid connection systems. MC is to acquire 49% of the nominal share capital in these offshore connections, subject to certain conditions. This letter of intent is an important step towards a further equity investment of MC in TenneT’s existing offshore grid investment program. As in the other projects, TenneT would retain majority ownership and would continue to operate these connections.

Renewable energy
The grid connections, Helwin2 and Dolwin2, connect a number of offshore wind farms in the German North Sea to the onshore electricity grid and have a combined total capacity of 1,590 megawatt, involving an aggregate investment of approximately EUR 1.7 billion and an expected third-party equity stake around EUR 340 million. The connections bring enough energy onshore to supply 1.5 million households with renewable energy and are both due to be completed by 2015.

Fulfilment of existing offshore portfolio
Mel Kroon, CEO TenneT, regards the letter of intent as a further step in the development of the German infrastructure for renewable energy: “TenneT is making an essential contribution to the energy transition in Germany, by bringing offshore wind energy onshore and strengthening onshore connections. This letter of intent is a next and logical step in the partnership with MC and another crucial step towards fulfilment of our existing offshore project portfolio. With this letter TenneT continues to fulfil the equity raising schedule announced last year, involving an equity injection of EUR 600 million by the shareholder, confirmed last year and MC’s recent equity participation of EUR 240 million in Borwin1 and Borwin2. Furthermore it demonstrates that this new concept, allowing investors to invest in separate clusters of regulated assets, is indeed attractive. We expect that the talks with MC will result in an agreement this year“.

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