Eni has entered the U.K. offshore wind market for electricity production through the acquisition of a 20% stake from Equinor and SSE Renewables of the Dogger Bank (A and B) project on Dec. 4.

The project involves the installation of 190 state-of-the-art turbines situated approximately 80 miles from the British coast. Each turbine has a capacity of 13 MW for a total capacity of 2.4 GW. At full capacity, Dogger Bank (3.6 GW) will be the world’s largest project of its kind, generating around 5% of U.K. demand for renewable electricity and supplying energy to approximately 6 million British families.

The construction of the Dogger Bank (A and B) is expected to cost a total of £6 billion (US$8 billion) and will take place in two stages, with the first to be completed by 2023, and the second by 2024.

This acquisition sees Eni enter the Northern Europe offshore wind market, one of the most promising and stable in the world, with two partners that have extensive experience in the sector, and with whom it will be able to enhance its own expertise in the construction and operation of offshore wind farms for future projects in other areas as well.

“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,” Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said.

By entering the Dogger Bank (A and B) project, Eni adds 480 MW of renewable energy to its 2025 target of 5 GW of installed capacity from renewable sources, while it will additionally be able to explore potential synergies with the retail business.

Once the transaction is complete, the new overall shareholding in Dogger Bank A (1.2 GW) and Dogger Bank B (1.2 GW) will be SSE (40%), Equinor (40%) and Eni (20%).

Eni has been advised on this transaction by RBC Europe limited, acting as exclusive financial advisor, and Bracewell (UK) LLP as legal advisor.

“This is our third offshore wind transaction in less than two years,” Pål Eitrheim, executive vice president in New Energy Solutions in Equinor, said. “Once again, we have demonstrated Equinor’s ability to create value from renewables projects. The divestment is in line with our strategy. We access attractive acreage early and at scale, then leverage our technology and experience to mature and de-risk projects. Today’s deal underpins our track record in consistently capturing value from world class assets.”

Offshore