Ocean Winds plans to invest $3.15 billion in offshore wind by 2025, EDP says

LISBON (Reuters) - Ocean Winds, a joint venture between Portugal's main utility EDP with French company Engie, plans to invest 3 billion euros ($3.15 billion) to develop offshore wind projects by 2025, the chief executive of EDP told Reuters on Thursday.

The equal partners in the venture are targeting up to 7 gigawatt (GW) of new capacity in operation or under construction by then, said CEO Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade.

Ocean Winds is the exclusive investment vehicle for EDP - through its subsidiary EDP Renewables - and Engie to capture marine wind energy opportunities around the world.

Since its creation in 2020, Ocean Winds has grown from 1.5 GW of projects under construction and 4 GW under development to a total portfolio of more than 11 GW, and is now present in seven countries.

Each partner will invest 1.5 billion euros, and the projects will also be financed "through debt and financing from other external partners."

"The total accumulated amount of investment in these offshore wind projects will obviously be much higher (than 3 billion euros," he said.

He said that, "by 2025 Ocean Winds plans to add 5-7 GW of projects already in operation or under construction and 5-10 GW of projects in advanced stage of development."

($1 = 0.9512 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip)