E.ON to invest €1.9 bln in U.K. offshore wind farm

E.ON will invest approximately 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in the construction of offshore wind farm Rampion in the U.K.

Situated 13 kilometers off the Sussex coast at its nearest point, the project is comprised of 116 3.45 megawatt wind turbines, associated foundations, an offshore substation and cabling. It will have the capacity to generate 400 megawatts of electricity and is expected to generate 1,300 gigawatt hours of renewable energy annually, enough to supply the equivalent of up to 300,000 homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 600,000 metric tons a year, E.ON said.

E.ON will provide construction, operations and maintenance as well as energy management services to the project. This includes the delivery of the connection to the National Grid with marine export cables to shore, approximately 26 kilometers of onshore cables and onshore grid substation assets. E.ON will divest these offshore transmission assets under a regulated sales process.

U.K.’s Green Investment Bank PLC, or GIB, a leading investor in the U.K.’s offshore wind industry, has acquired a EUR327 million stake in the project, E.ON said.