Insurer Allianz in offshore wind debut deal for part of BASF stake in giant Dutch project

Insurance giant Allianz made its debut foray into offshore wind ownership with a deal to buy a 25.2% stake in the 1.5GW Hollandse Kust South in the Dutch North Sea.

BASF, which retains 24.3% and had already indicated it would look to shrink its shareholding, will procure most of the power covered by its original near half-stake, an important contributor in the group’s plans to tap renewables to help meet stretching corporate decarbonisation targets.

Andrew Cox, co-head of infrastructure at Allianz Capital Partners, said: “We are very pleased to be partnering with BASF with regards to this opportunity. BASF is providing a long-term fixed-price power purchasing agreement for the project which will ensure a strong contracted revenue stream for many years to come.”

Hollandse Kust South, which will use 140 Siemens Gamesa’s 11MW turbines, is one of a string of giant offshore wind projects built or underway off the Netherlands as part of the nation’s offshore wind build programme, which is among the most ambitious in Europe.

The Dutch economics and climate ministry is currently checking, whether an additional 10GW of offshore wind could be transmitted to the country’s power grid by around 2030, on top of an already planned 11.5GW by that year.