Dong Energy has taken full control of the UK offshore wind development Hornsea Project One after acquiring the remaining 66.66% stake in the project from its partner SMart Wind.
Financial details were not disclosed. Dong entered into the joint venture with SMart Wind in December 2011, with an option to acquire the remaining 66.66% ownership interest upon the development project receiving government approval, which was granted in December 2014. SMart Wind is a joint venture between Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Financial Services.
The project, located 120 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast, will be able to meet the electricity needs of around 800,000 homes when completed. “We will now continue on our own to develop the project towards a final investment decision,” said Samuel Leupold, Executive Vice President of Dong Energy Wind Power. “While the project is huge in size, it can be realized with technology which Dong Energy masters, though no one else has ever built offshore wind in that scale so far from the coast.”
The project will receive a fixed price per megawatt hour of electricity produced for the first 15 years of operation under the UK government’s Contract for Difference that was awarded in April 2014.