UK seals £12bn Norfolk offshore wind deal

The UK has secured around £12 billion of investment to develop the Vanguard West and Vanguard East offshore wind farms off the Norfolk coast, in a deal hailed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham as a "vote of confidence for building in Britain". German utility RWE and US investment firm KKR have completed a 50:50 joint venture and reached financial close on the projects, which RWE said represents the largest non-recourse project financing secured for UK offshore wind.

The investment package covers both wind farms and associated transmission infrastructure and includes £1 billion from the state-owned National Wealth Fund, its largest offshore wind commitment to date. An international consortium of 35 banks is providing cash and ancillary facilities, while export credit support is being supplied by agencies in Germany and Denmark.

Vanguard West and Vanguard East form part of the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone and together will have a generating capacity of 2.8 gigawatts, with each project rated at about 1.4GW. Once fully operational, the projects are expected to supply enough electricity for the equivalent of around three million UK homes, with power brought ashore through cabling between Happisburgh and Necton where onshore infrastructure works are already under way.

Offshore construction is scheduled to begin in early 2027, with the first foundations at Vanguard West due to be installed in the first half of that year. Both wind farms are planned to reach full commissioning in 2030, using Vestas V236-15MW turbines, with 92 machines ordered for each site located roughly 50 to 80 kilometres off the Norfolk coast.

The Vanguard developments benefit from 20-year, inflation-indexed Contracts for Difference awarded in January 2026, set at a strike price of £91.20 per megawatt-hour in 2024 prices. Under the non-recourse financing structure, lenders rely mainly on project cash flows for repayment rather than on the wider balance sheets of RWE (RWEd) or KKR, reinforcing the standalone nature of the investment.

RWE has characterised the deal as evidence of strong investor and lender confidence in the UK offshore wind sector and in the delivery of the Vanguard projects. Burnham has framed the package as strengthening domestic electricity generation and contributing to long-term energy security while he prepares to address world leaders at the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye.

The UK government estimates that the Vanguard investment will support more than 2,400 jobs across construction and operational phases. RWE has separately indicated that construction will create and support thousands of roles annually through the supply chain and deliver around 100 long-term positions once the wind farms are running.

In parallel with the Norfolk projects, SSE is advancing its proposed 1.4GW Berwick Bank B offshore wind farm, about 38 kilometres off the Scottish Borders coast in the outer Firth of Forth. Siemens Energy has been chosen as preferred supplier for turbines and substation platforms, and the development is expected to support 2,677 skilled jobs across Scotland and northern England, including 130 newly announced roles in Glasgow and Montrose, though a final investment decision is not expected until 2027.

Burnham has described the Vanguard investment as "great news for bill payers" and highlighted the role of coastal communities from Scotland to East Anglia in powering Britain’s future. He has linked the National Wealth Fund’s participation to the objective of combining public and private capital to build homegrown clean energy, bring returns for taxpayers and help deliver lower energy bills.

Business groups have also argued that investment at this scale can attract further private capital, create skilled jobs and support growth in communities across the country. The announcement sits alongside broader efforts to accelerate renewable deployment and channel new public financing vehicles, such as the National Wealth Fund and an Energy Wealth Fund linked to future North Sea revenues, into low-carbon projects.