REM: Eni completes purchase of 20% of 1.2-GW Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm

Eni has completed agreements to purchase of 20% of 1.2-GW Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm.

SSE Renewables of Scotland has sold a 10% interest to Eni of Italy. Eni has also finalised the agreement to purchase a 10% interest in Dogger Bank C from co-owner Equinor of Norway on the same terms.

Eni entered the Dogger Bank C project with effect from project financial close, reached in December. SSE and Equinor each received GBP68mn ($92.2mn) for their 10% share.

SSE Renewables and Equinor each maintain a 40% stake in the project, the third of a three-phase behemoth.

Once it is complete, by March 2026, Dogger Bank will be world’s largest offshore wind farm. In total it is expected to generate around 18 TWh annually, enough renewable electricity to supply 5% of the UK’s demand and equivalent to powering 6mn UK homes.

The project is ready to start construction off the east coast of England, though some onshore construction commenced last summer in Teesside.

A consistent combination of equity partners across all three phases of the project will enable further synergies across both the construction and operations phases of the Dogger Bank wind farm, said SSE in a release.

SSE will continue to lead on the development and construction of the entire Dogger Bank project and, as previously agreed, Equinor will operate it upon completion.

SSE intends to use the proceeds to support the delivery of its Net Zero Acceleration Programme (NZAP), published in November. The NZAP includes an increase of 4 GW of renewables installed capacity over five years to 2026, doubling installed renewables capacity to 8 GW.

NZAP includes a fully funded GBP12.5bn strategic capital investment plans for five years, alongside what SSE says are ambitious targets for 2031, aligned with 1.5-degree Celsius targets.

A few days ago, the UK grid operator announced that it had selected Dogger Bank C to help keep voltage stable by supplying reactive power to the grid from 2024 until 2034. National Grid ESO noted that the Hartlepool nuclear power plant (NPP) would be shut down in March 2024, so the reactive power will be needed.