DEME Concessions Wind nv (“DEME”) and
the Windreich Group of companies (“Windreich”) announce the close of
a joint venture between DEME and Windreich.
Under the terms of the joint venture
Windreich contributed the MEG I project rights into Merkur Offshore GmbH,
the new project company that will build and operate the project, and which
is held by the partners DEME and Windreich. DEME and Windreich also agreed
that the project will be renamed and further referred to as Merkur Offshore.
“Today’s announcement underlines
our confidence in this project”, noted Alain Bernard, Director and
Chief Executive Officer of the DEME group. “We are very pleased with
the progress made to date, and look forward to contributing to the success
of Merkur Offshore, not only by participating financially but also in terms
of applying GeoSea’s expertise in offshore wind construction and installation
to this project”.
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GeoSea will continue its engagement in
the offshore industry and act as general contractor for the installation
of Merkur Offshore. Luc Vandenbulcke, Managing Director GeoSea, further
added: “This is an important milestone for bringing this project to
start construction, which is expected in the first half-year 2016. Since
completing our acquisition of Hochtief’s assets earlier this year, GeoSea
is well placed to bring Merkur Offshore project through construction”.
Merkur Offshore, formerly known as MEG
I, is a permitted 400MW offshore wind farm project with secured grid connection,
located approximately 45km north of Borkum in the German exclusive economic
zone of the North Sea. Combining favourable sea bed conditions with one
of the strongest and most reliable wind resources in the world, Merkur
Offshore will be one of Germany’s largest wind farms in the North Sea,
contributing significantly to Germany’s energy transition plans.
Merkur Offshore was originally developed
by Windreich through a special purpose company. In March 2015 DEME announced
its involvement in the project. Since then, the Merkur Offshore team has
been staffed with over 20 package managers, contract negotiators and financial
specialists. The project team is led by Holger Grubel from ONP Management
(until recently project director of Vattenfall’s Dan Tysk and Sandbank
projects) and Michael van der Heijden from Amsterdam Capital Partners (responsible
for bringing the 600MW Gemini offshore wind project to financial close).
