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On Friday, Orsted had reached an agreement with the Brookfield Renewable for purchasing 100% quality interest in the latter’s Irish and U.K onshore wind business, Brookfield Renewable Ireland.
Orsted mentioned the deal which may see it entering Europe’s onshore market. In 2014, the company which was well known as DONG Energy divested its last activities in the onshore wind which focuses on the offshore sector.
As per Orsted, the agreement of the enterprise valuation is 571 million euros ($684 million) although this figure is subject to adjustment. However, the deal is slated to be close in the second quarter of 2021.
BRI is headquartered in the Irish city of Cork and is specialized in the development as well as operations of onshore wind farms.
Orsted has elaborated BRI as having “an attractive portfolio” which involves 389 megawatts (MW) in operation and under the construction and development pipeline of over 1 gigawatt (GW).
Orsted CEO, Mads Nipper, said in a statement, “In the US, we’ve built a strong onshore business with 4 GW in operation and under construction.” Nipper also added, “The European market for onshore wind power is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.”
However, he went on to state his firm’s acquisition of BRI which would provide it with “a strong platform that expands our presence in onshore renewables to Europe.”
Now, Europe is the for much well-developed wind energy industry. As per figures from WindEurope, 2020 saw 14.7 GW of wind energy capacity installed there. The industry body mentioned that 80% of these installations were in the onshore sector, with almost onshore capability amounting to around 194 GW.
In the U.S., onshore capability stands at more than 122GW as per the American Clean Power Association. However, China is a dominant force in wind energy that boasts over 278 GW of onshore capacity as the Global Wind Energy Council says.
Moreover, capacity refers to the maximum quantity that installed can be produced and not what they are necessarily generating.
