EDP and Engie sell minority stake in Moray East offshore project

Ocean Winds, an international consortium created by EDP Renováveis and France's Engie to develop offshore wind projects around the world, has agreed to sell a 16.6% minority stake in the Moray East offshore wind farm in the UK to a group of funds managed by Equitix Infrastructure Investment.

The information was communicated by EDP and EDP Renováveis to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) this Monday.

"Following this transaction, Moray East's shareholder structure will include Ocean Winds (40%), Diamond Green Limited (33.4%), Equitix (16.6%) and China Three Georges (10%)," the document reads.

The wind farm, located in the Moray Firth, has 100 Vestas turbines of 9.5 megawatts (MW), with a total capacity of 950 MW and is the largest in operation in Scotland. "The Moray East seabed rights were awarded to EDPR in June 2010 and, in September 2017, the project was awarded a 15-year contract (CfD) at a price of £74.49/MWh (nominal price of April 2023)," explains the renewable arm of the electricity company.

By June 20203, the Moray East wind farm had produced cumulative renewable energy of around five terawatt hours (TWh).

"With this transaction, which is part of OW's investment strategy, Moray East implies an estimated EV/MW multiple for EDPR of £3.1M/MW (E3.6M/MW) at the date of commissioning, including transmission investments and remaining operating cash flow," the company said. Read also EDP and Engie's Ocean Winds wants 4 GW of offshore wind in South Australia Ocean Winds signs agreement with Port of Setúbal to evaluate construction of offshore wind equipment