About the developers
The Morgan Offshore Wind Project and the Morecambe Offshore Windfarm are working together on the proposals for the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Wind Farms: Transmission Assets project, to connect both offshore wind farms to the electricity transmission network.
Morgan Offshore Wind Limited, a joint venture between JERA Nex bp and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, is developing the Morgan Offshore Wind Project.
About JERA Nex bp
JERA Nex bp is a purpose-built offshore wind company committed to unlocking the power of offshore wind by developing high-quality, competitive projects. A 50:50 joint venture between JERA Co. and bp, JERA Nex bp is an end-to-end developer, owner and operator with more than fifteen years of experience in operating offshore wind projects.
Headquartered in London, with offices across Europe, Asia, US and Australasia, JERA Nex bp has a portfolio of operational and development projects across nine countries, and draws on a rich heritage of pioneering offshore wind in Asia Pacific and the North Sea.
About EnBW
With over 28,000 employees, EnBW is one of the largest energy companies in Germany and Europe. It supplies around 5.5 million customers with electricity and gas. As part of its transformation from a traditional energy company to a sustainable infrastructure group, the expansion of renewable energy sources and of the distribution and transmission grids for electricity, gas and hydrogen are cornerstones of EnBW's growth strategy and the focus of its investments. Until 2030, EnBW plans gross investments of €40 billion. By then, around 80 percent of EnBW's generation portfolio is to consist of renewable energies, and the company aims to phase out coal by the end of 2028. These are key milestones on the road to the company's climate neutrality in 2035. EnBW has been planning, building and operating offshore wind farms in Germany and Europe for over 15 years. We invested early, built up expertise and secured a competitive position in the European offshore market as an integrated energy company. We currently operate four offshore wind farms with around one gigawatt and constructing He Dreiht, Germany's largest and subsidy-free offshore wind farm, which will double our offshore portfolio. www.enbw.com
Morecambe Offshore Windfarm Limited, a joint venture between Cobra and Flotation Energy Limited, is developing the Morecambe Offshore Windfarm.
About Cobra
With 80 years of experience, COBRA is a historically significant Group in the development of industrial infrastructure and service provision, and one of the key players in the renewable energy sector in Spain and Latin America. The Group possesses the capacity and determination to develop, build, and operate industrial and energy infrastructures that demand a high level of service, grounded in excellence in integration, technological innovation, and financial robustness.
Our unrivalled knowledge and understanding of floating offshore wind developments is a significant advantage in delivering a high quality and efficient project, coupled with our commitment to environmental stewardship. Our experience as a major player in offshore wind is based on a 50 MW project in operation and over 11.2 GW under development.
About Flotation Energy
Flotation Energy is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has been a significant contributor to building a strong offshore wind industry in the UK and beyond.
Flotation Energy has a growing project pipeline, managing 13GW of offshore wind projects in the UK, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan and Australia; and plans to expand into many more key markets. The expertise of the Flotation Energy team lies in the project and engineering management of large infrastructure projects.
Flotation Energy has developed its own projects but also recognises the benefits of collaboration and partnership to deliver proven, cost-effective solutions.
A coordinated approach
The Morgan Offshore Wind Project and the Morecambe Offshore Windfarm were scoped into the Pathway to 2030 workstream of the UK Government’s Offshore Transmission Network Review (“OTNR”).
As part of the OTNR, National Grid assessed options to improve the coordination of offshore wind farm connections and associated transmission networks. In July 2022, the UK Government published the Pathway to 2030 Holistic Network Design Report which set out the results of the OTNR and its proposed approach to connecting 50GW of offshore wind to the UK national grid.
This concluded that the Morgan Offshore Wind Project and the Morecambe Offshore Windfarm should work collaboratively to connect the wind farms to the national grid at Penwortham in Lancashire. The developers (EnBW/JERA Nex bp and Cobra/Flotation Energy) were involved in this process and agree with this conclusion, and as a result are developing the transmission assets associated with each offshore wind farm together.
Why we need offshore wind
When operational, the Morgan and Morecambe offshore wind farms are expected to play a role in the energy transition by delivering a significant volume of offshore wind.
This can support the UK Government’s Net Zero by 2050 target to deliver up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.
The UK is a world leader in offshore wind and the surrounding seas are ideal for harnessing wind power. We are aiming for our projects to be operational by 2028/29 at the earliest, helping to decarbonise the UK.
The projects will also play a key role in the energy transition by:
- Generating low carbon electricity from offshore wind farms in support of the decarbonisation of the UK electricity supply
- Optimising generation capacity within the constraints of available sites and grid infrastructure
- Contributing to achieving the aims of the UK’s Energy Security Strategy.
The projects also aim to:
- Co-exist and collaborate with the other offshore activities, developers and operators to enable the balance of different users
- Contribute to the local, regional and national economy by providing substantial investment, as well as employment and new infrastructure during all phases of the projects
- Align with the key drivers in current and planned updates to national policy.
The UK currently generates around 13GW of its power from offshore wind, meaning it plays an increasingly important role in our energy mix. But we need to go a lot further. For the UK to achieve its climate goals, we need to quadruple our offshore wind generation, to reach the UK’s target of deploying 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.