Iberdrola and Masdar have formed a partnership to invest up to €15 billion in offshore wind and green hydrogen projects – including the UK’s East Anglia THREE.
Announced on Tuesday at COP28 in Dubai, the deal will see the UAE state-backed renewable energy investor back another major UK wind project with the potential for further opportunities across Europe.
The partnership began in July with Masdar’s 49% investment in Germany’s 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind scheme.
This week on the sidelines of the international climate conference the pair confirmed Masdar will also take a minority stake in the East Anglia THREE offshore wind project off the UK.
Rumours of the deal surfaced several months ago with the companies confirming discussions have been ongoing “for the last few months”, and could be signed off by the end of Q1 2024. Masdar’s stake could be up to 49%.
Led by Iberdrola subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, construction on the project began in summer 2022, with full commissioning scheduled for Q4 2026.
The scheme secured a 15-year CPI-linked Contract for Difference (CfD) from the UK Government in July 2022, and is set to generate power for the equivalent of over 1.3 million British homes and create 2,300 jobs.
Meanwhile, the Baltic Eagle wind farm in Germany is also in construction and will be operational in 2024 with another, Windanker, scheduled to begin production in 2026.
Iberdrola said the schemes would add to its current portfolio of some 1.2GW of operational offshore wind projects, including West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea, Wikinger in the German Baltic Sea, and East Anglia ONE in the southern North Sea.
Beyond these projects, Masdar and the Spanish energy firm said they would will work together to jointly invest in offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in Europe and other markets.
Work to identify those opportunities is “already underway,” they said.
It’s the latest in a string of major deals signed by the state-backed investment group at the COP28 conference. Last week Masdar also announced its farm-in to the Dogger Bank South (DBS) wind farm, operated by Germany’s RWE, around 60 miles off the coast of England.
Masdar said the two would jointly invest £11bn on the massive project.
A stream of other deals will see the group co-fund ventures in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Poland, in addition to forays into Asia and Africa, worth up to 20GW.
Masdar chairman and COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, said: “We welcome this partnership which will see global clean energy pioneers, Masdar and Iberdrola, coming together to use their expertise and resources to advance renewables in Europe and around the world.
“At COP28, we know that the world must triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 to keep 1.5C within reach. Robust partnerships such as the one between Masdar and Iberdrola today will propel us towards this goal.”
Iberdrola executive chairman Ignacio Galán, said: “Now that 118 governments have already pledged to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 at COP28, reaching this goal will require immediate action from these governments and the private sector.
“Following our long-term commitment to renewables, networks, and storage, this innovative alliance with Masdar today shows once again our determination to continue delivering.”
“By combining our renewables experience and financial strength with those of Masdar, we can deliver more secure, competitive and clean energy, quicker. We are very pleased to be expanding our existing alliance with a leading long-term partner like Masdar from Germany, where we are already constructing new offshore wind turbines, to the UK and across the world.”
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