Van Oord Offloads Blauwwind Stake

Van Oord has sold and transferred its 10 per cent stake in the Blauwwind joint venture to the renewable energy asset manager Luxcara

In 2016, the Blauwwind consortium was awarded the concession to design, construct, operate and maintain the Borssele III and IV offshore wind farm.

The project is comprised of 77 Vestas 9.5 MW turbines, with a total installed capacity of 731.5 MW, enough to power some 825,000 households.

Van Oord was responsible for the balance of plant works, consisting of the design, engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of the foundations and inter-array cables.

Construction started in the second half of 2019 and Van Oord completed the installation of the 77 foundations in six months. Turbine installation was completed in November 2020.

As the wind farm is now fully operational, Van Oord chose to divest to recycle capital for future projects.

Arnoud Kuis, Managing Director of Offshore Wind at Van Oord, said: ”We are proud to have been part of this consortium and to have been the selected construction partner. Realizing the balance of plant works is an important step in the transition to renewable energy. We are impressed by the speed and professionalism of the Luxcara team and are confident that the asset manager makes a great partner for the Blauwwind consortium.”

Van Oord and Luxcara engaged in an accelerated transaction process, with thorough due diligence and negotiations closed within two months.

The investment is said to give Luxcara’s investors access to a cash-yielding offshore wind farm that expands the asset manager’s portfolio in line with its growing international institutional investor base.

Alexandra von Bernstorff, Managing Partner of Luxcara, said: ”We are delighted to add the stake in this landmark offshore wind project to our growing portfolio of renewables projects. The deal once again demonstrates our ability to act fast and close transactions with accelerated timelines.”

The new ownership of the wind farm will be, if the INPEX transaction is successful, Partners Group (45 per cent), Shell (20 per cent), INPEX (15 per cent), Luxcara (10 per cent), and Eneco (10 per cent).