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Orsted, the largest offshore wind developer in the world, has agreed to pay $ 510 million for the purchase of Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, which built the first offshore wind farm in the United States. painting near Block Island.
PROVIDENCE, RI – Orsted, a Danish company and the world's largest manufacturer of offshore wind turbines, has agreed to pay US $ 510 million for the purchase of Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, which built the first offshore wind farm in the world. United States network of five turbines near Block Island.
The acquisition, announced Monday and to be finalized in the coming months, will lead to the creation of Orsted US Offshore Wind – a new company that will develop more than 8,000 megawatts in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and Mexico. Virginia.
The headquarters of Deepwater Providence will remain open under the agreement, with all its staff in place, including its managing director, Jeffrey Grybowski. He will become co-CEO of the new company alongside Thomas Brostrom, who currently runs Orsted's US operations in Boston.
The agreement comes just months after the Orsted Bay State wind project lost the opportunity to negotiate long-term contracts for the sale of electricity to utilities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Securing a power purchase agreement is essential for development because it guarantees decades of revenue and can be used to attract financing.
While the competing Vineyard Wind project, backed by another Danish company, won the bidding process in Massachusetts last spring, the Deepwater proposal titled Revolution Wind was selected at the same time by Rhode Island. The Deepwater project has won distinct tendering processes in Connecticut and Long Island, helping to strengthen its leadership position in the offshore wind industry in the United States.
Orsted has agreed to buy Deepwater from DE Shaw, a New York-based investment company that has owned Providence since its inception more than a decade ago, and built the Block Island Wind Farm. 30 megawatt project commissioned in 2016. It is still the only offshore wind farm in the United States.
In an interview, Grybowski said that Deepwater was exploring partnerships or acquisitions, with competition in the offshore wind market intensifying in the United States – a multitude of developers, many of which benefited from international support, have submitted proposals. Although he stated that the company had considered other offers, the agreement with Orsted, concluded over the past few months, made sense when it decided to go ahead with the deal. expand its ambitions on the east coast and elsewhere in the United States.
"This is the right partnership for Deepwater to help us move on to the next phase of our projects and the vision we presented several years ago," he said. "We were not just going to partner with anyone. We could not think of a better combination than a partnership with Orsted. "
Orsted built the world's first offshore wind farm in Denmark in 1991 and now has 24 projects in operation, totaling 5,100 megawatts – more than any other company. Although the wind farm construction techniques are the same in the United States and Europe, the authorizations are different. Brostrom stated that this acquisition combines Orsted's construction expertise with the knowledge of the US Deepwater market, which, despite state and federal government programs to advance the development and price reduction of offshore wind, had to overcome the opposition.
"It's new here, so there has always been a little more skepticism," he said. "Local actors are different. They must be more comfortable with offshore wind. In this respect, it is different.
According to Mr. Brostrom, the agreement will have no impact on the Bay State State Wind Project, which is proposed in an area of federal waters between Block Island and Martha's Vineyard. . The Revolution project, located in the same area, will not change either, nor will the other Deepwater proposals, Grybowski said.
"We are going ahead on each of them as planned," he said. "After the completion of the transaction, we will explore opportunities to improve projects and of course use Orsted's considerable engineering, procurement and construction expertise. At best, this combination should enhance people's confidence in our ability to build them. "
As part of the deal, he said the company's business in Rhode Island would expand. In the short term, a chief of operations will join the Providence office from Orsted.
Grybowski thanked D.E. Shaw for his support. In a statement, Bryan Martin, chief executive of D.E. Shaw and the chairman of Deepwater, said the new company "will continue to write the story."
Catherine Bowes, wind program director for the National Wildlife Federation, said the acquisition comes at a pivotal time for the industry.
"We know that responsibly developed offshore wind is a critical solution to climate change and that the first set of US projects must be located and built with wildlife in mind," he said. she said in a statement.
"Deep Island Wind's Block Island Wind Farm has set a solid precedent with the development of America's first offshore turbines and we look forward to continuing to work with Orsted and all offshore wind companies to advance responsibly-developed projects." for America.
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