Dong Energy has acquired 100% ownership of three offshore wind projects under development in Germany, namely Gode Wind 1, 2, and 3, from PNE Wind AG. The three together have a total capacity of up to 900 MW and are located in the German North Sea about 30 km northwest of the island of Norderney.
The total purchase price consists of an up-front payment of EUR 57 million (DKK 425 million) and additional deferred payments that are subject to the achievement of certain milestones such as an investment decision to construct the wind farms. These deferred payments will be up to EUR 100 million.
Gode Wind 1 and 2 both have a permit from German authorities that allows for the construction and operation of the projects, although certain changes to the permits are required to utilise their total capacity. Gode Wind 1 and 2 have unconditional grid connection confirmation from the grid provider TenneT for a total of 584 MW. Gode Wind 3 has applied for a permit to construct and operate, which is expected to be granted in 2013. Completion of the Gode Wind 3 transaction is conditional upon the relevant permits being obtained by the end of January 2014.
The acquisition of the Gode Wind 1, 2, and 3 projects is a significant step in DONG Energy’s effort to gain a stronger position in the growing German offshore wind sector. “Offshore wind is a central part of DONG Energy’s overall strategy and the acquisition ... strengthens our already ambitious development pipeline in German waters,” says Carsten Krogsgaard Thomsen, acting CEO of DONG Energy. “The Gode Wind projects in Germany are very interesting for us as we, if a positive investment decision is taken, expect that construction of parts of the projects could begin by 2015 with the available grid connection confirmations. This way, the projects have a good fit with DONG Energy’s project pipeline, ensuring that our installation sequence of building large-scale projects successively could work smoothly and help bring down the cost of energy from offshore wind power.”
No investment decision has been made yet. DONG Energy already has offshore wind projects totalling 2000 MW under construction on Lincolnshire, London Array and West of Duddon Sands in the UK, Borkum Riffgrund 1 in Germany and Anholt offshore wind farm in Denmark.
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