TotalEnergies, Green Investment Group and RIDG join forces for Scottish offshore wind bid

Announcements prior to 1 April 2022, including this announcement, refer to Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG). Macquarie’s partnership in the West of Orkney Windfarm is now led by Corio Generation, a specialist offshore wind business, dedicated to harnessing the world’s greatest energy supply. Corio Generation is a GIG portfolio company, operating on a standalone basis.

TotalEnergies has joined forces with Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) and Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG) to bid for sites in Scotland’s forthcoming offshore wind leasing round (ScotWind). The Offshore Wind Power Ltd (OWPL) consortium will bring together the partners’ extensive expertise to leverage Scotland’s domestic supply chain and deliver world-class developments that will accelerate the country’s energy transition.

Each of the partners have longstanding Scottish presence as well as significant financial expertise, technical capability, and a track record in successful project development:

• TotalEnergies is a broad energy company and one of the largest offshore operators on the UK continental shelf with a significant track record of successfully delivering complex projects in harsh sea conditions. With an ambition to be a world-class player in the energy transition, the Company develops and operates renewable projects worldwide. In Scotland, it has a majority stake in the 1,140 MW Seagreen 1 offshore wind farm located off the east coast of Scotland, which is currently under construction. Some of its recent developments also include the £3.2bn Culzean gas project, delivered with 52% UK local content. Over the last five years, TotalEnergies has invested around £2.5bn in projects in Scotland.
• GIG, a leading renewable energy developer with a mission to accelerate the green transition, has invested around £625m in Scotland since 2012. Over the three years, GIG has committed or arranged £6.9bn across its global portfolio, further cementing its position as one of the world’s leading renewable energy investors and developers. Macquarie Group, GIG’s parent company, has supported almost half of the UK’s offshore wind capacity currently in operation and is also supporting the Acorn project at St Fergus, a leading Scottish carbon capture and storage project.
• RIDG, a Scottish offshore wind developer with decades of sector experience, has been working closely with local and national stakeholders since 2016 to bring forward well-considered project opportunities into the ScotWind leasing process.

All partners have ambitious plans to accelerate the energy transition: TotalEnergies is targeting the development of 35 GW of gross renewable generation capacity by 2025 and 100 GW by 2030; GIG has over 250 projects under development and construction, with a pipeline of more than 30 GW, and is developing or has invested in over 20 offshore wind projects around the world with a cimulative capacity of over 12 GW. RIDG has been created specifically with the aim of putting Scottish companies and communities firmly at the centre of this global opportunity.  
In February 2021, GIG and TotalEnergies have successfully secured rights to a seabed lease in the Eastern Regions zone in the Crown Estate’s England and Wales Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 to develop a 1.5 GW offshore wind project. The companies are also working together in South Korea to co-develop a portfolio of floating offshore wind projects with a potential cumulated capacity of more than 2 GW.

Ed Northam, Head of GIG Europe, said:

“The addition of TotalEnergies to our bidding consortium brings together a team who have a long track record in delivering major infrastructure projects in challenging environments – a key requirement given the growing scale and complexity of the next generation of fixed bottom and floating offshore wind farm projects.”

Jean-Luc Guiziou, Managing Director of TotalEnergies E&P UK, said:

“TotalEnergies is delighted to join forces with GIG and RIDG to contribute to the Scottish energy transition and the scaling up of its offshore wind sector. This consortium builds on a unique blend of skills and expertise required to safely deliver a competitive project. As one of the largest operators in the UK energy industry, TotalEnergies will bring its extensive expertise in offshore project delivery, operations and maintenance. Alongside its majority stake in Seagreen1, the largest offshore wind farm in Scotland, and its recent licence awards in the leasing round for offshore wind in England, today’s milestone underlines the strategic importance of the Scottish offshore wind market for the Company.”

Mike Hay, Commercial Director of RIDG, said:

“The inclusion of a global energy company into our consortium, alongside one of the world’s largest renewable energy developers and investors, underlines the attractiveness of the opportunities RIDG has been working on for a number of years. TotalEnergies brings immense project delivery capability and a Scottish team ready to build and operate the next generation of mega-projects fuelled by offshore wind. They also understand the value of working closely with stakeholders and communities at a local level, which aligns with RIDG’s vision of ensuring our projects bring benefits throughout the economy, and not just to those directly involved in the sector itself.”