Masdar buys 49% of world’s largest OSW farm

Dogger Bank South (DBS), 100km off the coast of northeast England, is owned by German energy giant RWE, and is designed to generate 3 gigawatts of electricity.

The development, which is split across two east and west sites, is part of an £11 billion (€12.8 billion) pledge to invest in renewables made by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak at the COP27 global climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt a year ago.

Each site will cover an area of 500km².

At the current COP28 meeting in Dubai, Sunak has reiterated his commitment to the policy, promising another £1.6 billion (€1.8 billion), half of which is on top of the original £11.6 billion pledge.

“Masdar is very proud to be partnering RWE to develop one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms,” said CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.

“We are delighted to have come on board at the early stages of this pioneering project, enabling us to leverage our shared passion and expertise in renewables. The UK is the world’s second largest offshore wind market and offers huge growth potential.”

Ten years ago, Masdar was again in partnership with RWE to launch the 630MW London array wind farm, which at the time was the world’s largest. DBS will be five times as big as the London array.

RWE is extremely serious about new energy technologies.

It says that between 2024 and 2030 it intends to invest €55 billion across the world in offshore and onshore wind, solar, battery and hydrogen projects.

The DBS development, which has been in the headlines for years, could finally begin its construction phase at the end of 2025. The developers say the first 800MW of electricity will come online in 2029 and it will be fully commissioned by the end of 2031.