British oil giant BP and Japanese energy group Jera are merging their offshore wind businesses to become a global top five player. BP thus comes on board with three wind farms off the Belgian coast that were built by Leuven-based Parkwind. De Tijd wrote this on Tuesday.
BP and Jera are creating a new global giant in offshore wind. The British oil and gas producer and the Japanese energy company were each already separately active in the construction and operation of offshore wind farms, but are now combining their activities in the joint venture Jera Nex bp. Together they want to invest up to $5.8 billion in that activity by 2030.
The new joint venture will also have a crucial Belgian component. The Leuven wind farm developer Parkwind is the hub of the offshore activities of Jera Nex, the green energy branch of Jera that is led by the Belgian Nathalie Oosterlinck. Jera bought Parkwind last year from the Colruyt family and the retailer of the same name.
The British-Japanese joint venture will start with more than 1 gigawatt of operational wind farms from Jera. This concerns three Belgian and one German parks that were built by Parkwind and participations in parks in the UK, Japan and Taiwan. Through the new structure, BP will also be brought on board as owner of the three Belgian wind farms Belwind, Nobelwind and Northwester 2.