Mubadala-backed Masdar eyes a 49% stake in UK offshore wind farm: Abu Dhabi’s renewables giant Masdar is planning to purchase a 49% stake in Spanish utility company Iberdrola’s largest offshore wind project off Britain’s eastern coast for EUR 2 bn (USD 2.1 bn), Reuters reports, citing market sources who spoke to Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias. The wind plant — called East Anglia 3 — is expected to be valued at some EUR 4 bn. Iberdrola has been raising financing to invest in new projects by selling stakes in more advanced ones. Both Iberdrola and Masdar declined to comment on the report.

About the wind farm: Construction on the East Anglia 3 farm began last year and is scheduled to be completed in 2026, according to Reuters. The plant will have a capacity of 1.4 GW and will supply green energy to around 1.3 mn homes as part of Iberdrola’s planned macro offshore wind complex in the British North Sea, dubbed the East Anglia Hub. The complex as a whole is expected to generate 2.9 GW and will require a total investment of EUR 6.5 bn.

REMEMBER- Masdar entered a similar agreement and acquired a 49% stake in Iberdrola’s EUR 1.6 bn Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm off the coast of Germany last July.

Iberdrola has a renewables and green fuels investment strategy: The sale of shares in Baltic Eagle is part of Iberdrola’s strategy to finance its EUR 47 bn investment plan, which will see it allocate EUR 17 bn to offshore wind projects in France, Germany, the UK, and the US, earmarking EUR 11.7 bn to install onshore wind farms and EUR 11.2 bn to build onshore solar energy plants. Iberdrola expects to exceed 80 GW of installed renewables capacity by 2030 on the back of planned investments ranging from EUR 65-75 bn between 2026 and 2030. The company currently has a pipeline of 3 GW worth of offshore wind projects under construction and has an operational offshore wind asset portfolio of 1.2 GW, the statement notes.

And the sales plan is already underway: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said it is planning to invest in 1 GW of Iberdrola’s renewables plants in Spain and Portugal after it already purchased 49% of a 1.3 GW portfolio of solar and wind farms in January for EUR 600 mn. In 2019, Iberdrola sold a 40% stake worth more than GBP 1 bn (USD 1.2 bn) in East Anglia 1 to Green Investment Group, a subsidiary of Australia’s financial services company Macquarie Group, Reuters said.