ENGIE and EDPR hear the call of Ocean Winds

ENGIE and EDP Renováveis have announced the creation of Ocean Winds (OW), a joint venture equally controlled by both companies in the floating and fixed offshore wind energy sector.

Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, the new company will act as the exclusive investment vehicle in offshore wind for both parent companies and is expected to become one of the top five offshore global operators in the world.

“OW has been created with the intention of combining the experience and knowledge of two companies with a successful track record in the generation of renewable energy under one single firm, in order to take a leading position in the marine wind sector,” Spyros Martinis, CEO of OW, said.

”We share a vision for the key role of renewables in general, and offshore in particular, in the new energy model. The creation of a company combining the experience and resources of both will give us the chance to lead a sector in this increasingly real and necessary transition.”

OW will have over 200 employees at the time of its launch and expects to reach 300 towards the end of the year.

Grzegorz Gorski, COO of OW, said: “We are continuously monitoring the evolution and regulation of multiple countries. We are seeking not just to grow in the markets where we are already present, but also to explore opportunities to add value in new countries.”

When ENGIE and EDPR were looking for a name for the new business, they brought in a team of scientists who could help to identify the sound of the wind in the Roman alphabet.

They developed a specific algorithm and equipment to transcribe into letters the sound of the wind recorded offshore over a 48-hour period. The two most commonly occurring letters were “O” and “W”, thus giving rise to the name Ocean Winds.

OW, owned and created by EDPR and ENGIE in 2019, will manage the existing offshore portfolio and project pipeline of both parent companies.

This includes a total of 1.5 GW under construction and 4 GW under development, with the target of reaching 5 GW to 7 GW of projects in operation or under construction and 5 GW to 10 GW under advanced development by 2025.

OW primarily targets markets in Europe, the United States, and selected geographies in Asia, from where most of the growth is expected to come.