RWE, Total, BP among winners in UK offshore wind leasing auction

By Susanna Twidale

LONDON (Reuters) – RWE, BP and Total were among winners in Britain’s first major auction of offshore wind farm leases in more than a decade, the Crown Estate said on Monday.

Britain, the world’s largest offshore wind market, plans to generate a third of its electricity from the technology by 2030 as part of efforts to reach its 2050 net zero carbon emissions target.

A total of six projects, representing just under 8 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, were successful. If built, they could provide enough electricity to power about 7 million homes, said the Crown Estate, which is responsible for waters around England and Wales.

Oil major BP, in its first move into Britain’s offshore wind market, won two sites representing a total of 3 GW jointly with German regional utility EnBW, in what Bernstein analysts called a “highly contested race”.

BP Chief Executive Bernard Looney said in a statement the move marked “important progress towards BP’s transformation into an integrated energy company.”

BP aims to ramp up renewable power generation to 50 GW by 2030 from 3.3 GW now, while slashing oil output.

RWE, Germany’s largest power producer and Europe’s third-largest renewables firm after Iberdrola and Enel, was confirmed as preferred bidder for two sites with total potential capacity of 3 GW.

The average price RWE was awarded to lease seabed was 82,552 pounds ($113,171) per megawatt (MW) per year, the lowest awarded price during the auction, the company said. “As RWE we are determined to contribute to delivering the UK’s ambition to grow offshore wind capacity to 40 GW by 2030,” said Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, who heads RWE’s renewables division.

A venture of French oil major Total and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group secured the rights to a 1.5 GW project off Britain’s East Anglian coast.

Offshore Wind Limited, a venture of Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios and Flotation Energy, secured a 480 MW site.

Crown Estate Scotland carries out separate auctions for the waters around the Scottish coast.

(Reporting by Susanna Twidale in London, additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt ; Editing by Edmund Blair and Susan Fenton)