Sumitomo, a Japanese conglomerate, has inked agreements with Belgian wind company Parkwind to acquire stakes in two offshore wind energy project portfolio of 381MW.
The two projects comprise 165MW Belwind 1 and 216MW Northwind both located in the North Sea. Parkwind invested €650m for the development of Belwind, while Northwind has cost the developer €900m.
As per the arrangement, Sumitomo will take up a 39% stake in the Belwind 1 project and a 33.3% stake in the Northwind project through its wholly owned subsidiaries. The agreements are, however, subject to approval of the European Commission and any other competent competition authority.
Meanwhile, Sumitomo and Parkwind have also entered into a development agreement for 165MW Belwind 2 project, adjacent to Belwind 1.
Although the stake purchase in Belgian projects marks the first offshore project investment for the Japanese firm, the company has a series of operational onshore wind farms in Japan, China, the US and wind IPP project in South Africa.
Of total energy portfolio of 6,129MW, Sumitomo has wind power generating capacity of 524MW.