SET-listed Gulf Energy Development, Thailand's largest power producer by market value, continues to seek new business opportunities overseas with its latest investment in the development of a 1,500-megawatt offshore wind farm project in the UK.
The investment marks Gulf's first business expansion in the UK, in line with its plan to focus more on renewable energy.
Gulf acquired a 24.99% indirect equity stake in the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Project, located off the Lincolnshire coast in eastern England.
The facility, which is in the early stages of development, is being built by France-based TotalEnergies and Corio Generation, the offshore wind farm business unit owned by Green Investment Group (GIG).
Gulf bought the shares from GIG through a joint venture, established by Gulf's wholly-owned Gulf International Holding Pte and GIG.
Gulf International Holding invested £90.7 million in this project, said Yupapin Wangviwat, chief financial officer at Gulf.
After the share purchase deal, GIG's stake will be 25.01%, while the largest shareholder will be TotalEnergies with 50%.
The total development cost of the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Project was not revealed in Gulf's statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Ms Yupapin said the project successfully secured seabed rights to develop the wind farm in the southern North Sea under a lease agreement signed with the Crown Estate in January this year.
The project developers are considering whether to participate in Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions, where the project would sell electricity to the grid, with the British government providing a fixed tariff guarantee for 15 years.
CfD is a long-term contractual agreement between a low-carbon electricity generator and a low-carbon contracts company, designed to provide the generator with price certainty over the lifetime of the contract.
The developers may opt to sign private power purchase agreements with corporations or sell electricity to the merchant market.
She said the project is scheduled to commence commercial operations in late 2029.
The project is expected to support the British government's ambition to deliver 50,000MW from offshore wind energy by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
