* Enbridge to invest total of $750 mln Canadian dollars
* E.ON to remain controlling shareholder in Rampion project
* Second deal in Europe offshore in less than a week
(Recasts, adds CEO quote)
FRANKFURT, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Canadian energy group Enbridge
ENB.TO has taken a 24.9 percent stake in E.ON's EONGn.DE 1.9
billion euro ($2.1 billion) offshore wind project Rampion, the
latest in a wave of deals that has boosted the European wind
power sector.
At 50.1 percent, Germany's E.ON will remain the controlling
shareholder of the 400 megawatt (MW) project, to be located 13
kilometres off the Sussex coast, with the remaining stake being
held by the UK Green Investment Bank.
Enbridge's total investment in Rampion, which started
construction in September and is expected to be operational in
2018, would reach about C$750 million ($570 million), it said.
"The European offshore wind business comes with strong
market fundamentals, sound commercial underpinnings and
attractive returns," Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Al Monaco
said in a statement.
The transaction comes less than a week after E.ON's smaller
peer RWE RWEG.DE said it found three partners for its 1.5
billion pound ($2.3 billion) Galloper wind park, also to be
built off the British coast.
Europe's cash-strapped utilities depend on external
financing for their offshore parks, usually in need of more than
1 billion euros in investments, with foreign energy groups and
pension funds plugging the gap in search of regulated returns.
($1 = 0.9200 euros)
($1 = 1.3153 Canadian dollars)
($1 = 0.6546 pounds)