Norway’s Vårgrønn buys into 3.6GW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm

Norwegian developer expands beyond its home offshore market and sets new growth targets for 2030

by Janet Wood 30 June 2022

Load-out of the first transmission piece for the Dogger Bank complex. Construction started in April 2022

Norwegian renewables developer Vårgrønn has agreed to buy into the 3.6GW Dogger Bank  offshore wind cluster off the UK as it repositions itself to become an offshore wind player across markets in northern Europe.

It is now targeting 5GW of installed and permitted offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Vårgrønn is owned by Plenitude, an Eni subsidiary, and HitecVision, a Norwegian private equity fund manager with €7 billion in European energy sector capital assets under management. 

As part of the transaction, HitecVision will increase its ownership share in Vårgrønn from 30.4% to 35%. Eni’s Plenitude subsidiary will retain 65%.

Vårgrønn will also acquire Plenitude’s 20% interest in the 3.6GW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm, adding 720MW to its portfolio, and giving it a firm foothold in the UK. Iit described as “the most mature area for offshore wind globally”. Vårgrønn also highlighted that project as an opportunity to collaborate with co-investors Equinor and SSE. 

Eni and HitecVision set up Vårgrønn in 2020 following their partnership in developing oil and gas exploration company Vår Energi. 

Vårgrønn is already a player in the Norwegian offshore wind market, and is bidding for seabed leases in one partnership with Equinor and another with Corio Generation and Norwegian utility Agder Energi. 

Vårgrønn will also take on Plenitude’s other early-stage initiatives in key markets. 

Eni’s Plenitude is both an energy supply and service business, retailing electricity and gas to 10 million customers in Italy, France, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, UK, Norway, USA, Kazakhstan and Australia, and a renewables and electric mobility developer. Its target is to reach 15GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. 

Stefano Goberti, CEO of Plenitude said, “By expanding Vårgrønn, we aim to raise a focused and financially independent development platform with a diversified portfolio of assets in the Northern Europe and with the capacity to rapidly build scale in the offshore wind market that is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.”