Even though its current pipeline does not include any offshore wind opportunities after acquiring a stake in Nordergründe offshore wind farm, John Laing Group sees the offshore wind sector offering strong investment potential in the coming years.
During 2016, John Laing secured ten new investments and made additional commitments to one existing investment, resulting in total investment commitments of GBP 181.9 million for the last year.
Of this, GBP 36.7 million went to buying a 30% stake in the 110.7MW German offshore wind farm, which marked John Laing’s second German wind investment and its first investment in offshore wind . In addition to John Laing, other shareholders in Nordergründe are wpd AG (30%) and Gothaer Leben Renewables GmbH (40%).
The final turbine at the offshore wind farm was installed in December 2016, with the project initially expected to go online by the end of 2016.
However, the commissioning has been delayed following BVT, the company in charge of the substation, going into administration in September 2016. After the project company entered into an agreement with the administrator, the work on the substation has resumed. Wpd is planning to complete the installation of the substation and the commissioning of the offshore wind farm in the second half of this year, a spokesperson from the company told Offshore WIND in February.
The Nordergründe wind farm is deemed the first German offshore project for which the work has been exclusively delivered by German companies.
Offshore WIND Staff