Eni joins Dogger Bank C as sell down process completes

Eni has today officially joined the Dogger Bank C project partnership after both SSE Renewables and Equinor completed agreements to sell a 10% interest each in the third phase of the wind farm to the company.

Eni is already a partner with SSE Renewables and Equinor on the first two phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when complete in 2026. Now, with the completion of this deal, Eni takes a combined 20% equity stake in the third phase of the 1.2GW project, further strengthening the partnership between SSE Renewables, Equinor and Eni to deliver the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

Located off the north-east coast of England, Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three 1.2GW phases and will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world when operational, with an overall capacity of 3.6GW. Dogger Bank C, which won a CfD in the 2019 auction, is around 560km² in size and at its closest point is 196km from shore. The third phase project is being developed on a different timescale to the first two phases, Dogger Bank A and B, which are being constructed at the same time. Dogger Bank C will connect to the national grid at the existing Lackenby Substation in Teesside.

Eni entered the Dogger Bank C project alongside SSE Renewables and Equinor with effect from project financial close, which was reached on 1 December 2021. The combined total equity consideration received at closing was GBP £136m, or GBP £68m to both SSE Renewables and Equinor for each 10% stake. Both SSE Renewables and Equinor each maintain 40% stakes in Dogger Bank C following completion.

With Eni joining SSE Renewables and Equinor across all three phases of this world-leading project, Dogger Bank Wind Farm now has the benefit of a consistent combination of equity partners across all of its three phases, enabling further synergies during both construction and operations. SSE Renewables will continue to lead on the development and construction of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and Equinor will operate the asset on completion.

SSE intends to use the proceeds to support the delivery of its Net Zero Acceleration Programme (NZAP) which was published on 17 November 2021. The Programme included fully funded £12.5bn strategic capital investment plans to 2026 alongside ambitious 2031 targets, aligned with 1.5 degree science based targets. The plans for renewables include an increase of 4GW of renewables installed capacity (net) over the 5 years to 2026, doubling installed renewables capacity to 8GW (net).

Dogger Bank Wind Farm is the largest of SSE Renewables’ projects currently in construction. Once the three phases of Dogger Bank are complete, which is expected by March 2026, it will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world. In total it is expected to generate around 18 TWh annually, enough renewable electricity to supply 5% of the UK’s demand and equivalent to powering six million UK homes.

SSE Renewables is currently also leading the construction of the Seagreen offshore wind farm (1,075MW, SSE share 49%), which will be Scotland’s largest on completion, and the wholly-owned Viking wind farm (443MW), which will be the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm on completion.

In addition, SSE’s NZAP details ambitious new 2031 targets including a fivefold increase in renewables output to 50TWh, maintaining a sustained renewables pipeline in excess of 15GW, and a trebling of SSE’s owned renewables capacity to over 13GW (net) from c.4GW today.