Innogy has partnered with Irish company Saorgus Energy to progress the development of the Dublin Array Offshore Wind Farm through to planning consent, and is set to acquire an equal share of the project. The next phase of project development will be led by innogy with support from Saorgus Energy.
The Dublin Array project, with a capacity of some 600MW, is located in the Irish Sea off the coast of Dublin, and has been developed so far by Saorgus Energy. Innogy is entering the project through its Irish subsidiary Innogy Renewables Ireland.
Aidan Forde , Director of Saorgus Energy, said: “We are pleased that innogy, with their extensive offshore wind experience, are on board with us in the development of the Dublin Array project. Once operational, Dublin Array will help enable the Irish Government to meet its 2020-2030 EU energy targets, will contribute to increasing the diversity of renewable energy supply in Ireland and will deliver much-needed clean electricity to Dublin.”
Hans Bünting , Chief Operating Officer Renewables at innogy SE, said: “I am delighted that we have secured our involvement in a second Irish project, following our acquisition of the 10MW Dromadda Beg onshore wind farm last year, providing support for Ireland to decarbonise the energy sector over the coming years. These acquisitions are a perfect fit with our strategy to deliver sustainable growth in accordance with innogy’s financial targets to maximise value for the company and our shareholders, and to generate sustainable renewable energy for consumers.”
According to WindEurope’s statistics for 2017, innogy came in third (together with Vattenfall) on a list of owners of offshore wind power in Europe, accounting for 7% of cumulative installations at the end of 2017. The company is preceded by Ørsted (17%) and E.ON (8%).
E.ON has recently reached an agreement with RWE AG to acquire RWE’s 76.8% stake in innogy via a far-reaching exchange of assets and participations. Under the agreement, E.ON will receive RWE’s 76.8% stake in innogy in return for granting RWE an effective participation of 16.67% in E.ON SE. E.ON will transfer most of its renewables business to RWE. Also, RWE would receive the entire innogy renewables business. The renewables businesses of E.ON and RWE would be brought together under the umbrella of RWE. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.