Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) announced today the launch of Corio Generation, a new specialist offshore wind business. Corio is expected to commence operations in April with a 15 GW project pipeline, establishing the company as one of the largest offshore wind developers in the world.

GIG will transfer over 100 of its staff to Corio, which will continue the development of GIG’s existing portfolio of projects across the UK, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, and Australia, and seek opportunities to create, finance and develop new world class offshore wind assets.

According to Macquarie, the launch of the new business comes as demand for green electricity continues to rise, with total capacity of offshore wind farms expected to reach 228 GW in 2030.

Mark Dooley, Global Head, Green Investment Group, said:

“We were one of the earliest investors in the offshore wind market, and over the last decade we’ve built one of the world’s largest development portfolios across the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia, Southeast Asia and beyond. Consolidating that momentum and capability into Corio gives this business the opportunity to be a leading player in the next era of offshore wind.”

GIG also announced that Corio will be led by CEO Jonathan Cole, who joins as CEO of Corio from energy giant Iberdrola, where he served for more than a decade as the head of Iberdrola Renewables’ Global Offshore Wind Business. During his tenure at Iberdrola, Cole was responsible for overseeing the business from inception to the development, construction and operation of 30 GW of projects in UK, USA, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Ireland, Poland and Brazil, totaling €13 billion of investments.

Samuel Leupold, currently GIG’s Chairman of Offshore Wind Energy, will also join Corio as Chair.

Cole said:

“I am hugely excited by this unique opportunity to lead a business that combines some of the world’s best financial and industrial expertise – and I believe that Corio will play a significant role in accelerating the deployment of offshore wind around the world. From day one, we will be able to work with partners, suppliers and investors to deliver a major project pipeline that will not only provide vast quantities of clean affordable electricity but will also support thousands of green jobs.”