RWE Innogy Buys into Belgian Wind Power Market

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--RWE Innogy (Essen, Germany), the renewables division of German power giant RWE (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen), has dramatically entered the Belgian renewable power sector by taking a dominant stake in the company that owns Thornton Bank, the country's flagship offshore windfarm.

The company has announced that it has secured a 20.22% interest in C-Power (Zwijndrecht, Belgium), the Belgian developer and operator of offshore windfarms, including the planned 300-megawatt (MW) Thornton Bank farm, which is the first offshore Belgian windfarm to have full planning permission. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

RWE Innogy purchased its stake from C-Power owners, Socofe and Ecotech Finance, who will each retain a 20% share. The company also confirmed that it has bought an additional 6.5% in C-Power from other shareholders, including EDF Energies Nouvelles (Paris, France). The value of the deal was not disclosed, but RWE Innogy believes the Belgian investment is a safe bet thanks to a certificate system that guarantees profitability. Belgian utilities are required to generate or source a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources via buying certificates. The minimum price of offshore wind certificates is $142 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the first 216 MW and $119 per MWh for capacity exceeding 216 MW.

"Thornton Bank is one of the first offshore windfarms worldwide, built at a depth of up to 28 meters up to 30 kilometers off the coast," said Professor Fritz Vahrenholt, CEO of RWE Innogy. "This is why the investment provides us with an excellent opportunity to not only contribute, but also extend our experience significantly in the offshore sector. This will benefit our ambitious development aims in the offshore sector."

Filip Martens, CEO of C-Power said, "We are happy to have found a very experienced partner with RWE for the construction and further development of the Thornton Bank project, because we want to set high standards with this windfarm in the offshore sector."

The $1 billion Thornton Bank windfarm lies off the coast of Zeebrugge and will consist of 60 5-MW turbines built by REpower Systems A.G. (FRA:RPW) (Hamburg, Germany). The first phase of the project saw six turbines installed last year and there are four more phases to follow before the project is complete in 2013. The 300-MW farm will generate about 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, enough for 600,000 homes. For additional information, see related news item from November 14, 2008 - Belgian Offshore Windfarm to Supply 300 Megawatts to Grid by 2012.

RWE Innogy is already very active in the U.K. wind energy market with the 60-MW windfarm in North Hoyle off the Welsh coast and construction that is under way again at the planned 90-MW farm at Rhyl Flats, off the north Wales coast. For additional information, see related news item from April 3, 2009 - Construction Restarts on Wales' Rhyl Flats Windfarm.

The company has also received the green light to build a 750-MW windfarm off the north Welsh coast at Gwynt y Mor and holds a 50% stake in the planned 500-MW Greater Gabbard offshore windfarm off England's eastern coast.

IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and now expanding coverage across the world.

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