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RWE: Investment For UK Wind Farms To Be Around EUR12B

German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) expects a total investment volume of around EUR12 billion for two offshore wind farms for which the U.K. government Friday awarded RWE and its partners construction licenses.
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Παρ, 8 Ιανουαρίου 2010 - 18:28
German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) expects a total investment volume of around EUR12 billion for two offshore wind farms for which the U.K. government Friday awarded RWE and its partners construction licenses.

"As a rule of thumb you have to invest around EUR3 million per megawatt installed, depending on water depth," said Fritz Vahrenholt, chief executive of RWE's renewable energies unit RWE Innogy Friday.

In a conference call to journalists, Vahrenholt added that the planned installed generation capacity of the Atlantic Array and Dogger Bank projects would result in an investment volume of around EUR12 billion.

RWE Innogy's Vahrenholt Friday declined to provide any details about the financing of the projects, saying it was to early to do so.

He added that the licenses awarded by the U.K. government allow RWE and its partners to debt finance the projects or seek new partners to increase the equity capital base.

So far, however, there are no plans to seek further partners, Vahrenholt said.

Earlier Friday, the U.K. announced the successful bidders, including RWE, to develop 32 GW of offshore wind energy.

RWE won a license to develop the Atlantic Array wind farm in the Bristol Channel . The company said the wind farm is expected to have an installed generation capacity of 1.5 GW.

Final approval for the Atlantic Array wind farm is expected to be issued by authorities in the first quarter of 2013, RWE Innogy said.

RWE is also a partner in the Forewind consortium, which Friday won a license to develop the Dogger Bank wind farm project.

Together with its partners--Norwegian state-owned utility Statkraft ASA (SKT), Statoil ASA (STO) and Scottish and Southern Energy PLC (SSE)--RWE will develop the Dogger Bank project, which will have an installed power generation capacity of 9 GW and might be expanded to 13 GW.

Each of the partners owns 25% in the Dogger Bank project.

Final approval for Dogger Bank is expected to be issued in 2015, RWE Innogy said, adding that it expects the first wind turbines to be installed in 2017.

Dogger Bank is the largest zone on offer in the U.K. 's third wind power licensing round. It is located in the North Sea and covers an area of around 8,660 square kilometers.

RWE, Europe 's largest corporate emitter of carbon dioxide, is investing heavily in the expansion of renewable energies to help improve its CO2 footprint.

The company has pledged to invest at least EUR1 billion a year in renewable energies. By 2012, it plans to have an installed renewable energies generation capacity of around 4.5 GW under construction or in operation.

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