Iberdrola and Masdar sign global alliance to co-invest up to €15 billion in offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in Germany, UK and the USA
Today (5th December) at COP28 in Dubai, global green energy giants Iberdrola and Masdar announced a €15 billion strategic partnership agreement to evaluate the joint development of offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in key markets including Germany, UK and the USA.
After the parties’ successful co-investment in Baltic Eagle, in Germany, the new milestone of this alliance will be to achieve a further co-investment in relation to the 1,400-megawatt (MW) UK East Anglia 3 offshore wind project. This deal has been under negotiation for the last few months and could be signed by the end of Q1 2024. Masdar’s stake in this wind farm could be 49%.
East Anglia 3 is currently in construction, with full commissioning scheduled for Q4 2026. The windfarm secured a 15-year CPI-linked Contract for Difference (CfD) from the UK Government in July 2022. The project will power over 1.3 million British homes and create 2,300 jobs.
Beyond the East Anglia 3 transaction, both companies will work together to jointly invest in future offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in Europe and other markets. Work to identify other opportunities is already underway, and it is anticipated that the total value of joint investments in offshore wind and green hydrogen as part of the alliance could reach €15 billion. The plans, announced at the UN’s climate change conference COP28 in the UAE, demonstrate both companies’ firm commitment to accelerating the global energy transition.
Iberdrola is the largest utility in Europe and one of the two largest globally, serving a population of more than 100 million people around the world. The company has €150 billion of total assets, 41 GW of renewables in operation and 1.2 million kilometres of networks globally.
In July this year, Iberdrola connected the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France to the electricity grid. It is the first large-scale offshore wind project to be delivered in the Brittany region.
Additionally, the Baltic Eagle wind farm in Germany is also in construction, which will be operational in 2024, with East Anglia 3 in the UK and Windanker in Germany also scheduled to begin production in 2026.
These projects will add to Iberdrola’s current 1,258 MW of operational offshore wind projects, including West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea, Wikinger in the German Baltic Sea, and East Anglia ONE in the southern North Sea, in which the company invested close to 4 billion euros.
As the UAE’s clean energy champion and one of the world’s fastest growing renewable energy companies, Masdar has been advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar has developed and partnered in projects in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development.
