Sweden’s Vattenfall has completed the sale of three offshore wind projects in the United Kingdom to Germany‘s RWE in a deal with an enterprise value of £963 million (US$1.2 billion).  

The Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone comprises Norfolk Vanguard West, Norfolk Vanguard East, and Norfolk Boreas – each with a planned capacity of 1.4 gigawatts.

The projects, located 50 to 80 kilometres off the coast of Norfolk in East Anglia, have already secured seabed rights, grid connections, development consent orders, and all other key permits.

Expected to be commissioned within this decade, Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone will be one of the world’s largest offshore wind developments at 4.2 GW.

The transaction was announced at the end of December 2023. Watson Farley & Williams advised Vattenfall.

Vattenfall says it remains committed to the UK, with 1.1 GW installed offshore and onshore wind capacity; the 798 MW Muir Mhor floating offshore wind farm in development with joint venture partner Fred Olsen Seawind, plus a pipeline of around 1.5 GW of onshore wind projects; heat networks under construction in three major UK cities; and over 50 sites connected to the independent network operator business.

The Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Vanguard East projects are most advanced, having secured the procurement of most key components. The next milestone in the development of the Norfolk Vanguard West and the Norfolk Vanguard East projects is to secure a contract for difference (CfD) in one of the upcoming auctions. RWE will resume the development of the Norfolk Boreas project, which was previously halted.

As a next step, the RWE Norfolk team will work on securing preferred supplier agreements for all key components and will then enter the project in a CfD auction at a later date.

The UK plays a key role in RWE’s strategy to grow its offshore wind portfolio. The Essen, Germany-based company already operates 10 offshore wind farms across the UK. Including the three Norfolk offshore wind projects from Vattenfall, RWE is developing nine offshore wind projects in the country, representing a combined potential installed capacity of around 9.8 GW, with RWE’s pro rata share amounting to 7 GW.

Furthermore, RWE is constructing the 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind project in the North Sea off the UK’s east coast. The company’s goal is to triple its global offshore wind capacity from 3.3 GW today to 10 GW in 2030.

The UK has a build-out target for offshore wind of 50 GW by 2030.