AMSTERDAM, March 30 (Reuters) - Dutch state-owned electric grid company TenneT (IPO-TTH.AS) has awarded 11 contracts worth a combined 23 billion euros ($25 billion) to build systems connecting wind farms in the North Sea to shore, it said on Thursday.
The contracts are being awarded to consortia led by Hitachi Energy and by General Electric, and caused shares in Petrofac (PFC.L), part of the Hitachi group, to spike as much as 73%.
TenneT is spending tens of billions of euros over the next decade to connect North Sea wind farms to the electric grid in Germany and the Netherlands.
The other consortium of Hitachi Energy (6501.T) and London-based Petrofac Ltd said it had signed a 13 billion euro agreement for six projects.
The Dutch and German governments are in talks for Germany to buy TenneT's German operations in light of the company's massive investment needs, estimated at over 100 billion euros in the coming decade.