Danish energy giant Ørsted has signed an agreement with D.E. Shaw Group to acquire Deepwater Wind for $510m.
Image: Ørsted’s offshore wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Ørsted A/S.
After the acquisition, the offshore wind assets and organizations of Deepwater Wind and Ørsted will be combined to form a US offshore wind platform with a comprehensive geographic coverage and a significant pipeline of development capacity.
The combined portfolio will allow Ørsted to supply clean energy to the seven states on the US East Coast that have already committed to build over 10GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Ørsted Offshore Wind CEO Martin Neubert said: “With this transaction we’re creating the number one offshore wind platform in North America, merging the best of two worlds: Deepwater Wind’s longstanding expertise in originating, developing and permitting offshore wind projects in the US, and Ørsted’s unparalleled track-record in engineering, constructing, and operating large-scale offshore wind farms.
Deepwater Wind is claimed to have built a geographically diverse portfolio of 3.3GW of projects along the US East Coast. These projects include the 30MW Block Island, which is the only operational offshore wind farm in the US.
The portfolio also includes three offshore wind development projects in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and New York totaling 810MW of capacity with long-term revenue contracts in place or pending finalization.
Besides, it consists of about 2.5GW of offshore wind development potential across three well-sited BOEM lease areas in Massachusetts and Delaware. Out of the 2.5GW, 1.2GW will developed through an equal joint venture with New Jersey utility, PSEG.
Ørsted’s current US offshore wind portfolio has a capacity of 5.5GW and it includes the development rights for up to 2GW at Bay State Wind site off the coast of Massachusetts. This is owned by a joint venture with Eversource. Development rights for up to 3.5GW at the Ocean Wind site off the coast of New Jersey.
In Virginia, the company will build two 6MW wind turbines as part of phase one of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project.
Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said: “Ørsted is one of the world’s great clean energy companies and real pioneers in the offshore wind sector. We could not be more pleased with this combination, which will bring together two great teams to realize an enormous clean energy resource for coastal populations in the US.”
Subject to clearance by the US competition authorities, the transaction is expected to close by end of 2018.
Following the completion of the transaction, the name of the new organization will be Ørsted US Offshore Wind, which will be represented by a local management team.