German power giant RWE is close to signing a financing deal with three partners for the $2bn Galloper offshore wind park project in the UK.

Siemens and UK Green Investment Bank are likely to be among the chosen partners, reports Bloomberg.

Reuters quoted RWE Innogy chief executive Hans Buenting as saying: “The plan is to have a deal in autumn, either October or November.”

RWE Innogy is the renewable energy unit of RWE.

The planned development, which is located 27km away from the Suffolk coast of eastern UK, is expected to have a generation capacity of 336MW.

UK-based utility SSE, which was the initial partner for the Galloper project, had dropped out last year in order to cut costs.

This action prompted RWE to seek other partners in order to share the project costs and reduce its stake, then at 37.5%, to 25%.

According to RWE spokesperson Judith Erb, the final investment decision for the offshore project is likely to be disclosed as early as October.

Analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance indicate that the facility will have the capacity to meet the power requirements of 200,000 to 300,000 households in the UK.

RWE, which has a capacity totalling around 50GW, has been forced to reduce its wind and solar investments and shutdown its nuclear units in Germany, in order to cope with the drop in energy prices.