Vattenfall Acquires Britain’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm

Vattenfall has acquired the Thanet Offshore Wind project off Margate, Kent, for the sum of GBP 35 million (SEK 435 million). On completion, the wind farm will have an installed capacity of some 300 MW. This will be almost three times the size of Lillgrund, Vattenfall’s largest wind farm in Sweden to date, and about the same size as Horns Rev in Denmark, in which Vattenfall has a majority stake.

Vattenfall acquired the rights to build Thanet Offshore Wind from CRC Energy Jersey 1 Limited in competition with other energy companies. The total investment for completing the wind farm is in the order of around GBP 780 million.

The acquisition of Thanet Offshore Wind will make Vattenfall one of the biggest wind power operators in Britain. Vattenfall already owns the Kentish Flats wind farm off Whitstable and earlier this autumn acquired the wind power companies AMEC Wind Energy Ltd and Eclipse Energy Plc. Great Britain is one of Vattenfall’s key markets for growth with excellent potential for clean electricity production from wind power.

“Great Britain is ideal for wind power with good wind conditions and a long coastline. We are now looking forward to realising the project and have a wind farm in place by 2010,” says Anders Dahl, head of Vattenfall’s wind power division.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Mike O’Brien said:

“I am pleased Thanet wind farm will be able to proceed under its new owner, Vattenfall. This proves the UK is still a good place to invest in offshore wind despite the current economic difficulties. The UK is a world leader in this technology. Our plans for more wind farms offshore will not only help in the fight against climate change but will increase the amount of home grown energy and create jobs.”

Rob Hastings, Director of the Marine Estate, at The Crown Estate said, “We are very pleased that Vattenfall have completed this deal to buy Thanet. The UK is now the world’s leading producer of offshore wind power and we will be working closely with Vattenfall in order to ensure the build schedule is maintained.”

The acquisition of Thanet Offshore Wind is a further step towards Vattenfall’s goal of increasing wind power production from approximately 1.5 TWh today to 50 TWh by the year 2030 and to become the fastest growing wind power developer and operator in North Europe. Wind power will play a significant part in Vattenfall’s determination to be carbon dioxide neutral by 2050.

Vattenfall discloses this information pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act.

Vattenfall’s vision is to be a leading European energy company. Vattenfall’s main products are electricity and heat. Today, Vattenfall generates electricity, produces heat and supplies energy to several million customers in the Nordic countries and northern Europe. The major customers are industrial plants, energy companies, municipalities, property companies and housing associations. For further information, please see www.vattenfall.com.