Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has entered into an agreement to acquire 33.4% of shares in Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited (MOWEL), through its wholly owned UK-based subsidiary Diamond Generating Europe Limited (DGE), with EDP Renewables, a renewable energy company from Spain. DGE has become one of the main MOWEL shareholders, along with EDPR and ENGIE.

 

 

MOWEL has been developing and, in 2018, will start construction of one of the UK's largest offshore wind farms. The project is located in the North Sea, 22km off the coast of Scotland. It will have a maximum capacity of 950MW and will generate enough energy to supply nearly 1,000,000 households from its scheduled commissioning in 2022.

 

 

DGE has established a special team of highly qualified in-house professionals who are exclusively dedicated to managing offshore wind power projects, including the existing 130MW Luchterduinen offshore wind farm* in the Netherlands and the 370MW Norther offshore wind farm**

 in Belgium. DGE is now drawing on the know-how it has accumulated through its engagement in those projects to take greater initiative in the development, construction and operation of the MOWEL project.

 

 

A European Commission roadmap suggests that by 2050, the EU is aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 80% of 1990 levels. In line with that target, the EU expects to generate some 50 GW of offshore wind power capacity by 2030. The introduction of more and more offshore wind power generation in the EU comes with successive technological improvement, which also means that the capacity of wind turbines and the scale of wind farms can get bigger, ultimately making the cost of electricity generated by offshore wind power more competitive than other power sources. In this context, MC sees its participation in successive offshore wind power businesses as an opportunity to contribute to the realization of a “low-carbon” society.