Germany's Wpd agrees sale of offshore wind business

German renewables developer Wpd AG has struck a deal to divest its offshore wind operations to New York-based fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and plans to focus on the expansion of its onshore wind and solar business.

Wpd offshore has interests in five projects in operation or under construction in Germany, France and Taiwan and owns a 30-GW (gross) pipeline of projects in various stages of development. The business has operations in fourteen markets in Europe and Asia-Pacific and has developed about 7 GW of offshore projects to date.

Upon closing of the transaction, Wpd's current COO Achim Berge Olsen will become chief executive of the business acquired by GIP.

"We believe offshore wind, one of the fastest growing renewables segments, will be critical to the net zero carbon targets and energy transition goals. This investment builds upon GIP’s extensive experience investing in renewables assets and offshore wind projects. As a highly scalable platform, wpd offshore will be able to pursue new projects and opportunities in high growth offshore wind markets," said GIP's chairman and managing partner Adebayo Ogunlesi.

The infrastructure fund manager owns a portfolio of solar, wind, hydro, and battery storage assets with 15 GW of operating generation capacity.

After the sale, Wpd will seek to double its portfolio of operating wind and solar projects by 2024. At the end of last year, the projects in the portfolio had a combined capacity of 2.5 GW.

In February, German magazine Manager-Magazin reported that the Bremen-based renewables developer could be put up for sale as its founders and owners were allegedly reviewing strategic options. One of the reasons for a potential sale, cited in the report, were the troubles causing the delay of the 640-MW Yunlin wind project off the coast of Taiwan. The company denied the report back then.

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