Denmark’s Ørsted Acquires Deepwater Wind, Creating U.S. Offshore Wind Leader

Opened in 2016, Deepwater Wind LLC’s Block Island Wind Farm is the first and only offshore wind farm in the United States. Photo: Deepwater Wind LLC

Danish power company Ørsted has entered into an agreement to acquire U.S. offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind for $510 million.

The acquisition includes the 30MW capacity Block Island Wind Farm, the first and currently only operational offshore wind farm in the United States, as well as Deepwater Wind’s entire portfolio of projects planned or under development.

Deepwater Wind is owned by D.E. Shaw Group.

Ørsted says the combination will create the leading U.S. offshore wind company with the most comprehensive geographic coverage and the largest pipeline of capacity under development.

Deepwater Wind has total potential capacity of approximately 3.3GW, including three offshore wind development projects in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and New York, BOEM lease areas in Massachusetts and Delaware,

Ørsted’s current US offshore wind portfolio has a total capacity of approximately 5.5GW, with development rights for up to 2GW at the Bay State Wind site off the coast of Massachusetts owned in a joint venture with Eversource and up to 3.5GW at the Ocean Wind site off the coast of New Jersey.

“With this transaction we’re creating the number one offshore wind platform in North America, merging the best of two worlds: Deepwater Wind’s longstanding expertise in originating, developing and permitting offshore wind projects in the US, and Ørsted’s unparalleled track-record in engineering, constructing, and operating large-scale offshore wind farms,” said Martin Neubert, CEO of Offshore Wind at Ørsted. “Today’s announcement consolidates Ørsted’s position as the global market leader in offshore wind with a strong foothold across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.”

Opening in 2016, the Block Island Wind Farm was America’s first offshore wind farm with 5 turbines and 30MW capacity.

“Deepwater Wind has done a fantastic job as a first-mover in US offshore wind, and I look forward to joining and integrating the two US organizations,” said Thomas Brostrøm, CEO of Ørsted US Offshore Wind and President of Ørsted North America. “We have exciting times ahead of us delivering large-scale clean energy projects to households and businesses along the Eastern Seaboard. Ørsted will maintain a strong presence in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and will, of course honor the local commitments associated with Deepwater Wind’s projects along the East Coast.“

Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, added:

“Ørsted is one of the world’s great clean energy companies and real pioneers in the offshore wind sector. We could not be more pleased with this combination, which will bring together two great teams to realize an enormous clean energy resource for coastal populations in the US.”

After closing of the transaction, the combined organization will be named Ørsted US Offshore Wind and headed by CEO Thomas Brostrøm and Co-CEO Jeff Grybowski, who is President and CFO David Hang both from the Deepwater Wind team,

After closing, the name of the new organization will be Ørsted US Offshore Wind. Closing is expected by the end of 2018.

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