Total, GIG confirm 1.5-GW award in UK offshore wind lease round

French energy major Total SA (EPA:FP) and the Green Investment Group (GIG), owned by Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG), today confirmed they have secured up to 1.5 GW of seabed rights in the UK’s latest offshore wind leasing round.

Through a 50/50 joint venture (JV) the partners have won the rights to install wind turbines off the coast of East Anglia, in the Eastern Regions zone of the Crown Estate’s four designated bidding areas. They were awarded the lease for an annual option fee of GBP 83,000 (USD 113,800/EUR 94,600) per MW/year during the development phase, Total said in a bourse filing.

The competition will now proceed with an environmental assessment known as a plan-level Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), to examine the projects’ potential impacts on the national conservation sites. After the process is completed, final agreements for the lease will be signed in 2022, while the capacity could become operational by end-2030.

“This project is our largest renewables development in Europe to date and an important step toward our 2050 net zero ambition”, said Julien Pouget, senior vice president Renewables at Total.

Six projects totalling close to 8 GW were selected in the round four wind lease tender. RWE Renewables, a partnership between Germany’s EnBW and oil and gas major BP, as well as the Offshore Wind Ltd JV of Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios and SA-Flotation Energy plc the other developers in the list of winners.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.371/EUR 1.140)

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