RWE hands its Five Estuaries offshore wind stake to EDF, which takes over leading the project

Serguey Asael Shinder12 October 2026, 08:282 min read

RWE confirmed on 8 October that it has completed the sale of its 33.33% stake in the Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm off the east coast of England to EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. With the transfer, EDF takes over leadership of the project on behalf of the joint venture partners. RWE says it will stay involved in the short term to support the handover.

The project. Five Estuaries received development consent on 17 December 2025 from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. It is planned for the southern North Sea across two seabed areas covering about 128 km², and is consented for up to 79 turbines with a maximum tip height of 370 metres, plus foundations. RWE says that, once fully operational, it could power around 1 million average UK households. RWE calls the operating Galloper wind farm its sister project. The press release does not state the sale price or the other partners' shares, and gives no capacity figure in megawatts.

What the deal says about priorities. RWE presents the sale as capital recycling: proceeds go back into its existing portfolio of consented offshore projects. That portfolio is large. RWE was the biggest winner of the UK's Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7 for offshore wind, taking awards for five projects totalling 6.9 GW, and it plans a net 5 GW expansion of offshore wind capacity by 2031. A consented project that is still years from power is the kind of asset a developer with more projects than capital can let someone else build.

For EDF the purchase works the other way: it gains a project that has cleared the planning stage, the slowest and least predictable part of UK offshore wind development. RWE's spokesperson says the priority is moving Five Estuaries from development into construction and operation, and that EDF is committed to maintaining the project's pace.

What to watch. The next milestones are a route to revenue — such as a CfD award or a corporate offtake — and supply-chain commitments for turbines, foundations and the grid connection. None of these is mentioned in the announcement.

Source: RWE press release, 8 October 2026 — https://www.rwe.com/en/press/rwe-offshore-wind-gmbh/2026-10-08-rwe-completes-sale-of-shares-in-five-estuaries-offshore-wind-farm/