Energy company Eni announced today that it is entering the UK offshore wind market, with the acquisition of a 20% stake in in the UK Dogger Bank (A and B) project from joint venture partners venture partners SSE Renewables and Equinor. Each of the partners is selling a 10% stake in the project, for total consideration of £405 million from Eni.

When completed, Dogger Bank will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with 3.6 GW of generation capacity. Construction on the project is being led by SSE, while Equinor will operate the project. The wind farm is being built in three consecutive 1.2GW phases; Dogger Bank A, Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C, with each project expected to generate around 6TWh of electricity annually. Construction costs for A and B are expected to total of £6 billion, with each respective phase anticipated to be completed in 2023 and 2024. Last week, Equinor and SSE Renewables announced the financial close on the first two phases of the offshore wind farm project, with total senior debt facilities of £4.8 billion, plus ancillary facilities of around £0.7 billion.

Eni stated that it views the Northern Europe offshore wind market as one of the most promising and stable in the world. Both the UK and the European Union have announced major commitments to use offshore wind as a significant part of their renewable energy strategies.

Claudio Descalzi, Chief Executive Officer of Eni, said:

“For Eni, entering the offshore wind market in Northern Europe is a great opportunity to gain further skills in the sector thanks to the collaboration with two of the industry’s leading companies, and to make a substantial contribution to the 2025 target of 5 GW of installed capacity from renewables, an intermediate step towards the more ambitious target of zero net direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions in Europe by 2050.”

Pål Eitrheim, Executive Vice President in New Energy Solutions in Equinor, said:

“Dogger Bank is the largest wind farm in the world under construction, and we are pleased to welcome Eni as a new partner. Through the sheer scale of the project we have delivered record-low contract prices for the UK market, and as operator of the wind farm we will continue to deliver value to the UK for years to come. Together with our partners we will continue to drive the energy transition to a net zero emissions future for the UK.”

Gregor Alexander, SSE’s Finance Director, said:

“The sale of a stake in Dogger Bank Wind Farm to Eni is another successful example of SSE’s approach to partnering to create and secure value for shareholders. This transaction will enable us to fund further low carbon growth opportunities, helping to deliver governments’ net zero ambitions and our own target to treble our renewable output by 2030.”