RWE and National Grid Move Forward on Offshore Wind Development

Following the success of their joint bid in the New York Bight offshore lease auction last month, RWE Renewables, one of the globally leading companies in offshore wind, and National Grid, one of the largest energy companies pivotal to the energy systems in the UK and the north-eastern United States, have announced the official name of their joint venture, Community Offshore Wind, to reflect the benefits it will bring to local communities, with the tagline, "Local clean energy for all."

"Our success with National Grid in the recent auction signals the start of our commitment to building a network of trust in the local communities," said Sam Eaton, RWE Executive Vice President, Offshore Development Americas. "We look forward to building our offshore business in the U.S., creating opportunities to deliver clean energy, good local jobs and private investment."

Community Offshore Wind is committed to delivering sustainable energy safely, reliably and efficiently to the communities we serve. It is important that everyone enjoys the benefits of the clean energy transition. It is the JV partner's goal to build strong sustainable communities for the future.

"National Grid is deeply committed to the communities where we live and work," said Will Hazelip, Vice President of National Grid Ventures. "This name for our offshore wind joint venture with RWE reflects that focus, and it reminds us each day that we're here to responsibly develop projects that account for the needs of all of our stakeholder communities."

In the NY Bight auction the joint venture secured area OCS-A 0539 with a winning bid of $1.1 billion. The awarded seabed has the potential to host 3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, enough to power 1.1 million U.S. homes. The project is expected to be in operation toward the end of the decade.

RWE and National Grid share a common goal of enabling the clean energy future and offshore wind will be critical for the U.S., particularly in the Northeast, to reduce carbon emissions and meet climate goals, such as New York state's target of bringing 9,000 MW of offshore wind online by 2035 and New Jersey's target of delivering 7,500 MWs of offshore wind by 2035. Importantly, the region's clean energy goals will also deliver significant new jobs and private investment to support the growth of the region's economy.

RWE is one of the world's leading companies in offshore wind, active across the entire value chain, from project conception and development to construction as well as operation and maintenance and commercialization. The unparalleled expertise the company has earned over the last 20 years has resulted in 17 wind farms in operation. The company recently finished successfully the installation of all turbines of the 857-megawatt offshore wind farm Triton Knoll off the English Coast. Two more projects, the 342-megawatt project Kaskasi, off the German island Heligoland, and the 1.4 GW project Sofia, one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, are currently under construction.

Serving the needs of more than 20 million people throughout New York and New England, National Grid will bring local expertise in the Northeast along with its experience developing large-scale infrastructure projects across the US and UK.  As a developer of clean energy technologies in competitive markets, National Grid Ventures brings industry-leading subsea cable capabilities through its portfolio of electricity interconnectors that enable the sharing of renewable energy between the UK and Europe. National Grid Ventures recently launched the world's longest subsea interconnector, North Sea Link, connecting the UK and Norway, and develops and operates onshore wind and solar assets in the US via its National Grid Renewables unit.