RWE Renewables and National Grid Collaborate to Jointly Bid for New York Bight Offshore Wind Energy Lease Auction

RWE Renewables, one of the world's leading offshore wind energy firms, and National Grid, one of the world's largest publicly traded utilities, announced today the signing of a partnership agreement to jointly build offshore wind projects in the Northeast U.S. coastal region.

Under this deal, RWE and National Grid Ventures, National Grid's non-regulated subsidiary, will collaborate to explore opportunities in the offshore wind market in the United States. This involves a plan to bid together in the forthcoming New York Bight seabed lease auction.

Offshore wind will be crucial for the United States, especially in the Northeast, to minimize carbon emissions and achieve climate goals, such as New York state's target of bringing 9,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind online by 2035.

This collaboration would benefit from the complementary strengths and skills of National Grid and RWE.

RWE is one of the world's largest offshore wind companies, involved throughout the entire value chain, from project conception and development to construction and operation, and maintenance. The company's unmatched expertise over the last 20 years has resulted in about 20 active projects. The company is currently building the 857-megawatt Triton Knoll offshore wind farm off the English coast and the 342-megawatt Kaskasi plant off the German island Heligoland. Furthermore, RWE has made an investment decision for its 1,4 gigawatt Sofia project, one of the world's largest offshore wind farms.

National Grid will offer local expertise in the Northeast as well as experience developing large-scale infrastructure projects, including industry-leading subsea cable capabilities from its portfolio of interconnectors that enable renewable energy transfer between the UK and Europe.