A new name is emerging in Grimsby’s offshore wind sector, after one of the biggest ever deals in Germany’s industrial history.
RWE has completed a deal with E.on, which sees a huge asset swap sealed.
It also brings in the Innogy activities, already a part of RWE, uniting Humber Gateway and Triton Knoll under single ownership in the port.
Rolf Martin Schmitz, chief executive of RWE, said it was a deal two years in the making.
“The new RWE has been completed. It is a new, bigger and more diverse company, with a clear goal,” he said. “By 2040, we will be carbon neutral. This will take us far beyond what other companies are aiming for.
"Our team has an outstanding position – with a strong renewables business, which is channelling all its energy towards growing internationally and can now hit the ground running, with a fleet of flexible and conventional power stations, which build a reliable bridge to the new energy era. And with energy trading operations with the expertise to seize opportunities on global energy markets.”
In Grimsby it is understood both farms will continue to operate from their separate bases, with Humber Gateway established more than five years ago, and Triton Knoll just emerging.
The former, located just north of the mouth of the Humber, and the closest farm to Grimsby, was an £800 million build, and came fully online in May 2015.
It is operated and maintained from Port of Grimsby East, and features 73 MHI Vestas 3MW turbines, with a 219MW capacity.
Triton Knoll is the big construction project ongoing off the Lincolnshire coast now, a multi-billion pound 857MW farm with the £3.4 million Royal Dock base just handed over by the building contractor. Again MHI Vestas has been turned to for the turbines, with the world-leading 9.5MW version heading to the site.
RWE will also be the name behind the Sofia project emerging as part of the Dogger Bank zone too. Innogy ownership of Triton Knoll (59 per cent) and Sofia (100 per cent) transfers to RWE with “no impacts on either project and in both cases we will continue with business as usual,” the company said.
Markus Krebber, chief financial officer of RWE AG, who spearheaded the integration project, added: “We have a wonderful starting point: a huge worldwide renewables portfolio, two teams that complement each other perfectly with many years of experience, and a strong investment programme. This will enable us to strengthen our leading position in the market even further.”
