In a break from a ceremony in Lisbon to award scholarship certificates to seven Portuguese university students who are to study in China, CTG’s chief executive for Europe, Xu Weili, said that it aims to continue making the most of its strategic partnership with EDP with these two new investments.
“We plan to invest with EDP in the UK and in France between the end of this year and the start of 2017 in offshore wind projects”, Xu said, adding that the former project, in Scotland, still “depends on the UK government” approving it.
According to Xu, CTG is to have a stake of between 10 percent and 20 percent in Moray Offshore Renewable, a venture that is planning the construction and operation of 1,116 megawatts of offshore power - enough to supply about 700,000 homes.
In February, EDP’s renewables subsidiary, EDP Renováveis, announced that it had acquired the 30 percent stake owned by Spain’s Repsol in the Scotland project, making it theoutright owner.
In June, after the referendum in the UK in which a majority voted to leave the Eurpean Union, EDP’s chief executive, António Mexia, said that the project could face delays.
The project in France, meanwhile, which Xu Weili told Lusa is “similar”, relates to a public tender that EDP Renováveis won in 2014, to develop 1,000 MW. It is to be concluded by 2021. CTG, a state-owned company, took a 21.35 percent stake in EDP in 2012, in what was one of the largest Chinese investments in Europe.
The two companies later signed a memorandum of understanding foreseeing a range of joint investments in various markets.