Swiss technology company ABB has been awarded contracts by Norwegian energy company Equinor and its partner SSE Renewables to connect offshore wind farms in the Dogger Bank region of the North Sea to the UK transmission network.

The Dogger Bank development will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm development, and consists of three projects: Creyke Beck A, Creyke Beck B and Teesside A.

Creyke Beck A and B will produce eight terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable energy each year, enough to power at least 1.8 million homes.

ABB will supply its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter systems to connect Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck B to the UK power grid, the first-ever use of HVDC technology in the UK’s offshore wind market.

Norwegian company Aibel also providing two HVDC offshore converter platforms with an option for a third platform at Teesside A. ABB and Aibel signed a strategic partnership agreement in October 2016 to develop offshore wind power connections.

Equinor and SSE both own 50% of the three projects, as agreed in August 2017. The development will have a total installed capacity of 3.6 gigawatts (GW), enough energy to power 4.5 million UK homes. The Dogger Bank projects are estimated to trigger a total capital investment of around £9bn between 2020 and 2026.

ABB Power Grids president Claudio Facchin said: “Winning the contracts from SSE Renewables and Equinor for the landmark Dogger Bank project underscores ABB’s innovative offshore wind technology and expertise. It also highlights the success of ABB Power Grids’ customer partnerships, both on design optimization as well as on the business model level.

“ABB is committed to delivering sustainable solutions with pioneering technologies and in the Dogger Bank project we are helping to make offshore wind competitive and thus contributing to a stronger, smarter and greener grid.”

SSE director of capital projects Paul Cooley said: “Dogger Bank is truly a world-leading project, pushing new boundaries in the provision of ground-breaking technology to deliver low-carbon energy generation to help achieve the UK’s net zero ambition by 2050.

“The appointment of Aibel and ABB as project partners will ensure that the latest grid solution technology is deployed to support our successful project delivery.”

ABB share price currently stands at CHF20.96 on the SIX Swiss Exchange, giving the company a market capitalisation of CHF45.40bn. This has continued a recent rise throughout October, as ABB’s share price had been CHF17.92 on 7 October.

French state-owned utility EDF has acquired UK-based start-up Pivot Power for an undisclosed sum through its subsidiary EDF Renewables. Pivot Power is a battery technology company that has 40 projects throughout the UK and is working with National Grid to build 2GW of grid-scale batteries and electric vehicle charging points around the country. These projects contribute towards EDF’s Electricity Storage Plan, which calls for the company to install 10GW in additional storage in Europe by 2035.

Israeli investment company Novasec has secured the exclusive rights to raise €80m to fund the Gecama windfarm in the Castile-La Mancha region of Spain. Novasec secured the agreement with Gecama owner Enlight Renewable Energy. Formed of 65 turbines with a capacity of 312MW, Gecama will be the largest onshore windfarm in Spain when it is complete. Construction of the windfarm is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2020 and will cost €330m to build. Enlight says that the windfarm will produce €2bn in revenue over the course of its lifetime. Gecama will play a role in the Spanish Government’s policy of having a 100% renewable energy electricity system by 2050.

The state of Massachusetts has selected Mayflower Wind, a joint venture between Shell New Energies and EDPR Offshore North America, to supply renewable energy produced from an 804MW offshore windfarm. The company outbid Vineyard Wind for the project, despite Vineyard Wind winning the first major bid for offshore wind in the US with the 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 windfarm. In total, the two windfarms will provide enough energy to meet 12% of the state's annual energy needs.

EDF Renewables has signed three power purchase agreements with supermarket chain Tesco to supply renewable energy to the company. The agreement covers two onshore windfarms and one solar installation and will last for 15 years. The two windfarms are be located in Scotland, with a combined capacity of around 138MW. EDF will also install 15,000 solar panels on 17 Tesco stores in England, which will have a combined capacity of 5MW when completed in 2020.

Power industry M&A deals announced in the US in September 2019 totalled $1.52bn, according to GlobalData’s deals database. The value marked a decrease of 6.6% over the previous month and a drop of 60.5% compared to the last 12-month average of $3.86bn. The US held a 13.3% share of the global power industry M&A deal value that totalled $11.5bn in September 2019. The US recorded 30 deals during the month, marking an increase of 30.4% over the previous month and a drop of 3.5% over the 12-month average.

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