Ørsted to acquire Deepwater Wind for $510 million

Written by Nick Blenkey
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OCTOBER 9, 2018 – Danish headquartered Ørsted A/S, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind farms, has entered into an agreement with the D.E. Shaw Group to acquire a 100% equity interest in Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind for a purchase price of $510 million.

The Deepwater Wind project portfolio has a total potential capacity of approx. 3.3 GW and includes Block Island (30 MW), the only operational offshore wind farm in the U.S.

Ørsted’s current U.S. offshore wind portfolio has a total potential capacity of approx. 5.5 GW.

Martin Neubert, CEO of Offshore Wind at Ørsted, says:

“With this transaction we’re creating the number one offshore wind platform in North America, merging the best of two worlds: Deepwater Wind’s longstanding expertise in originating, developing and permitting offshore wind projects in the U.S., and Ørsted’s unparalleled track-record in engineering, constructing, and operating large-scale offshore wind farms. Today’s announcement consolidates Ørsted’s position as the global market leader in offshore wind with a strong foothold across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.”

Thomas Brostrøm, CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind and President of Ørsted North America, says:

“Deepwater Wind has done a fantastic job as a first-mover in U.S. offshore wind, and I look forward to joining and integrating the two U.S. organizations. We have exciting times ahead of us delivering large-scale clean energy projects to households and businesses along the Eastern Seaboard. Ørsted will maintain a strong presence in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and will, of course honor the local commitments associated with Deepwater Wind’s projects along the East Coast.”

Deepwater Wind’s projects comprise:

  • Block Island (30 MW), the only operational offshore wind farm in the US
  • Three offshore wind development projects in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and New York totaling 810 MW of capacity with long-term revenue contracts in place or pending finalization.
  • Approximately 2.5 GW of offshore wind development potential across three well-sited BOEM lease areas in Massachusetts and Delaware. Of these 2.5 GW, 1.2 GW is developed through an equal joint venture with PSEG, a leading New Jersey utility.

Ørsted’s current U.S. offshore wind portfolio has a total capacity of approx. 5.5 GW comprising:

  • Development rights for up to 2 GW at the Bay State Wind site off the coast of Massachusetts owned in a joint venture with Eversource.
  • Development rights for up to 3.5 GW at the Ocean Wind site off the coast of New Jersey.
  • In Virginia, Ørsted will be constructing two 6 MW wind turbine positions for phase one of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project. Ørsted has exclusive rights with Dominion Energy to discuss the potential development of up to 2 GW of offshore wind capacity.

With the combined organization and asset portfolio, Ørsted will be able to deliver clean energy to the seven states on the U.S. East Coast that have already committed to build in total more than 10 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

“Ørsted is one of the world’s great clean energy companies and real pioneers in the offshore wind sector,” says Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind. “We could not be more pleased with this combination, which will bring together two great teams to realize an enormous clean energy resource for coastal populations in the U.S.”

After closing of the transaction, the name of the new organization will be Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind. The new organization will be represented by a local management team headed by Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind CEO Thomas Brostrøm, Co-CEO Jeff Grybowski, President and CFO David Hang both from the Deepwater Wind team, and COO Claus Bøjle Møller from the Ørsted team.

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