Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 22
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AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec
EDF, China Energy Investment finalise 502MW Dongtai offshore wind deal
CHINA
FRANCE’S EDF and China Energy Investment Group (CEI) have signed the final joint venture agreements to create a new company to run 502MW of offshore wind capacity at the Dongtai IV and Dongtai V projects in Jiangsu Province.
EDF Renewables and EDF China are to take a 37.5% stake in the common project company, while CEI Group will hold 62.5% through Shen- hua Renewable and Shenhua Clean Energy Holdings.
The two partners also announced financial closure for the deal, which follows on from the Cooperation Agreement signed on March 25, 2019, which was witnessed by France and Chi- na’s heads of state.
Dongtai IV has 302MW of capacity and was commissioned and connected to the grid in December 2021, while the 200MW Dongtai V project is due to be commissioned in 2021.
CEI said in March, when the joint venture was first announced, that the project would cost 7.9bn yuan ($1.13bn) and would be able to sup- ply 1.39 TWh per year, equivalent to 441,900 tonnes of coal.
EDF said in its 2019 annual report that the projects were located 40 km from the Jiangsu coast at average water depths of 6 metres. The Dongtai IV turbines were supplied by Shang- hai Electric under licence from Siemens and Envision.
The two partners will set up the operations and maintenance activities for the two plants,
which represent EDF’s first investment in China’s offshore wind sector.
“Thanks to this partnership, EDF, which is already present in China through its other busi- nesses, nuclear, solar, onshore wind and energy services, is strengthening its footprint in this strategic market. This partnership is also part of EDF’s CAP 2030 strategy: the group is aiming to double its renewables capacities worldwide from 28GW to 50GW net between 2015 and 2030,” said EDF Renewables CEO Bruno Bensasson.
China’s offshore wind capacity is set to reach over 40GW by 2030, EDF said, compared with 6GW at present. EDF’s move is the first utili- ty-scale project in China to be backed by a for- eign investor.
China added 2.3GW of offshore wind capac- ity in 2019, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), while also opening 26.2GW onshore.
However, new wind installation could be hit by coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020, with Wood Mackenzie in March cutting its forecast for global wind additions in 2020 by 4.9GW to 73GW, although this is still well above 2019 additions of 62GW. China accounts for 2.9GW of the forecast cut, said the Edinburgh-based consultants.
Shenhua Renewable currently has 10.14GW of onshore wind capacity and 520MW of photo- voltaic (PV) capacity, mainly in China but also in Australia and Greece.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 22 03•June•2020
