RWE Innogy and Statkraft have signed an agreement to jointly develop the Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm, off the east coast of England.
The deal will see Statkraft take a 50% stake in the UK wind farm, which has an expected capacity of up to 900MW. The development and construction phases will be delivered by a joint RWE/Statkraft project team, managed by Statkraft and drawing upon the competencies of both companies.
Under the terms of the agreement, no financial details will be disclosed.
Triton Knoll received a Development Consent Order (DCO) for the offshore array from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in July 2013 and an application for a DCO for the Electrical System is currently being prepared for submission to the Planning Inspectorate later in the spring this year.
Once the project is constructed, it could provide enough electricity to meet the energy needs of up to 800,000 average UK households annually.
Economic benefits have already begun to flow from the project with over £20 million already invested in the UK during the development process. The economic benefits from the construction and operation of the project will be significantly more, creating around 1,900 UK jobs during construction from a total potential investment of around £3 – £4bn.
Financial close for the project is anticipated to take place in 2017, with onshore construction also expected to commence in the same year.
Image: RWE/Statkraft