Mainstream Renewable Power and Maple Power to Partner for Upcoming Celtic Sea Floating Offshore Wind Tender
FORNEBU, Norway, Nov. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mainstream Renewable Power ("Mainstream"), the global pure-play renewable energy company majority-owned by Aker Horizons, and Maple Power, a leading European offshore wind developer, are jointly exploring the upcoming Celtic Sea Floating Offshore Wind Tender in the UK, which will be launched in 2023.
The Crown Estate is advancing the Celtic Sea seabed leasing tender for floating wind, which is anticipated to deliver a total of 4 GW of renewable energy by 2035. The region has the potential to generate up to an additional 20 GW by 2045, helping to support the UK's energy transition and future energy security.
Together, Maple Power, a 50:50 joint venture between Enbridge Inc. and CPP Investments, and Mainstream bring a combination of deep sector knowledge, extensive development experience and financial strength to target commercial-scale floating projects. The combined expertise of Maple Power and Mainstream will contribute to UK supply chain development, industry-leading innovation, and benefit renewable energy growth in a key market.
Since 2019, Maple Power, together with its partners and shareholders has co-developed over 2 GW of offshore wind projects across Europe, including Provence Grand Large, the first non-recourse project financed floating offshore wind project currently in construction.
Mainstream has an extensive offshore wind development track record in the UK, having developed and consented 20 percent of the UK's offshore wind capacity either in operation or under construction through Hornsea One (1.2 GW), Hornsea 2 (1.4 GW) and Neart na Gaoithe (450 MW). Through its recent combination with Aker Offshore Wind, Mainstream has taken an early mover position in floating wind and is currently, together with its partners, developing gigawatt scale projects in South Korea (1.2 GW) and Scotland (1.8 GW). Mainstream is also a major shareholder of the leading floating wind technology provider Principle Power.
"The Celtic Sea can play a leading role in reaching the UK's Net Zero ambitions, while providing renewable energy for green value chains in Wales and beyond through its proximity to key industry," said Tove Røskaft, Head of Offshore Wind at Mainstream. "I believe Mainstream and Maple Power bring together highly complementary capabilities and experience which will support us well in our aim to bid on and develop floating offshore wind in the region."
Michael van der Heijden, Chief Executive Officer at Maple Power, said: "Maple Power has been active in floating offshore wind since 2019, when the team started to co-develop the Provence Grand Large project in France. With construction of that project now well underway, I am keen for Maple Power to further deploy its floating offshore wind expertise. Combined with Mainstream's track record, the two companies together are therefore well-placed to consider opportunities in the Celtic Sea tender."
The Celtic Sea is defined as the waters in the region around the South Wales coast and the Southwest peninsula within the United Kingdom, covering an area of 300,000 km2.
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ABOUT MAPLE POWER
Maple Power Ltd is a 50:50 joint venture between Enbridge Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) that originates, develops, invests in and manages fixed bottom and floating offshore wind projects in Europe. Established in 2019, Maple Power, together with its partners and shareholders, manages a portfolio of 3.2 GW (gross) of European offshore wind projects. The projects are in early development (Rampion 2), late development (Dunkerque), construction (Fecamp, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Provence Grand Large) and operations phase (Hohe See, Albatros, Rampion and Saint-Nazaire).
About Enbridge
At Enbridge, we safely connect millions of people to the energy they rely on every day, fueling quality of life through our North American natural gas, oil or renewable power networks and our growing European offshore wind portfolio. We're investing in modern energy delivery infrastructure to sustain access to secure, affordable energy and building on two decades of experience in renewable energy to advance new technologies including wind and solar power, hydrogen, renewable natural gas and carbon capture and storage. We're committed to reducing the carbon footprint of the energy we deliver, and to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Enbridge's common shares trade under the symbol ENB on the Toronto (TSX) and New York (NYSE) stock exchanges. To learn more, visit us at Enbridge.com
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the 21 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At 30 September 2022, the Fund totalled C$529 billion.
ABOUT MAINSTREAM RENEWABLE POWER
Mainstream Renewable Power is a leading pure-play renewable energy company, with wind and solar assets across global markets, including in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Mainstream is one of the most successful developers of gigawatt-scale renewables platforms, across onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar power generation. It has successfully delivered 6.5 GW of wind and solar generation assets to financial close-ready and has a global portfolio of 29 GW.
In May 2021, Aker Horizons acquired a majority stake in Mainstream and, in April 2022, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. joined Aker Horizons as a long-term strategic investor. In August 2022, the transaction to integrate Aker Offshore Wind into the Mainstream Group was completed.
Mainstream is one of the leading developers of offshore wind at scale globally. It has successfully consented Hornsea One (1.2 GW), the largest operational offshore wind plant in the world today; and developed the Hornsea 2 project (1.4 GW) before selling these projects and the entire Zone in 2015. Mainstream fully consented the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind project in Scotland, where 450 MW is currently under construction. Overall, it has developed and consented 20% of the UK's offshore wind capacity either in operation or under construction. The company is currently bringing forward multi-gigawatt scale developments of offshore wind assets in markets including Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Norway, Ireland, the UK, and Sweden.
Mainstream, through Aker Horizons' ownership and its combination with Aker Offshore Wind, will leverage the decades of offshore energy development experience through the Aker group. Aker has been instrumental in the design and deployment of more than half of all semisubmersible floating offshore installations in the world and has over four decades of experience in the UK, including a global subsea centre of excellence.
Mainstream has raised more than EUR 3.0 billion in project finance to date and employs over 700 people across 20 markets.
SOURCE Aker Horizons
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