Danish infrastructure fund management company, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), and the Dutch company TenneT have agreed to make a joint investment in the DolWin3 offshore grid connection, which will transmit wind energy from the North Sea to German customers.
CIP will invest EUR 384 million in the DolWin3 grid connection, whilst TenneT will finance the largest portion of the construction costs, which are expected to amount to EUR 1.9 billion. With this agreement, the Danish firm will gain a 67 percent economic stake coupled with a 49 percent voting interest in this sustainable energy project.
TenneT CEO Mel Kroon commented: “I am delighted that in CIP we have found a partner that combines expertise in sustainable energy with a clear long-term vision. We are developing thirteen offshore grid connections with a total capacity of 8 GW by 2019. The new German coalition partners have set a target of 6.5 GW of installed generation capacity in the German part of the North Sea and in the Baltic Sea by 2023.”
“We are delighted to team up with TenneT for this attractive investment in green infrastructure. TenneT is a highly experienced partner with a unique portfolio of transmission assets in Germany. Further, TenneT has the right mind-set for working together with a financial investor like CIP,” said Christian Skakkebæk, Senior Partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
The DolWin3 project involves the construction of a 900 MW DC grid connection for wind farms in the south-western part of the German North Sea. The DolWin3 project is the third connection in the DolWin cluster. The distance from the wind farms to the coast is about 83 kilometres. The grid connection then runs for another 79 kilometres on land to the converter station at Dörpen West, which will serve as the onshore electricity grid coupling point. The connection is expected to be completed by late 2017.
Press release, February 17, 2014; Image: RWE