EDF and China Energy Investment Corporation (CEI) sealed their industrial partnership with the final joint venture agreements and the closing of the transaction. This new company is now building and operating 502 MW of offshore wind power projects off the coasts of Jiangsu Province (north of Shanghai), China.
It includes Dongtai IV, a 302 MW wind farm fully commissioned since December 2019 and Dongtai V, a 200 MW project now in construction and due to be commissioned in 2021. Together, the partners will continue the construction of Dongtai V windfarm and set up the operations and maintenance activities.
EDF Group is taking a 37.5% stake in the common project company through its subsidiaries EDF Renewables and EDF China, whereas CEI Group holds the remaining stakes through its subsidiaries Shenhua Renewable and Shenhua Clean Energy Holdings.
This JV creation and the financial closing are a follow-up of the Cooperation Agreement signed on March 25th, 2019, between EDF and CEI chairmen, witnessed by France and China’s Heads of State.
Dongtai IV and V represent EDF Group’s first offshore wind projects in China.
The EDF Group is a major offshore wind player with solid skills in all areas from development to operations and maintenance. Its subsidiary EDF Renewables has an offshore wind projects portfolio close to 6.5 GW in development, under construction and under operations in France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom, the United States and now in China.
The offshore wind market in China is booming with expected installed capacity over 40 GW by 2030 compared to 6 GW of installed capacity today. With 35 years of business development track record in this strategic country for the group, EDF is a well-recognized foreign player on the local energy market with 3.6 GW of power generation net capacities including in particular, nuclear, renewables and 3 district heating networks in operation. EDF Renewables currently operates and constructs more than 1 GW of renewable energy covering solar as well as onshore and offshore wind energies.
Bruno Bensasson, EDF Group Senior Executive Vice-President Renewable Energies and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF Renewables said: “EDF Group, which benefits from a recognized global expertise in offshore wind, is very pleased to support China, first country for renewable market growth, regarding its energy ambitions in reducing CO2 emissions. Thanks to this partnership, EDF which is already present in China through its other businesses: 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 28 GW to 50 GW net between 2015 and 2030”.
