Aker Offshore Wind and its majority owner Aker Horizons will collaborate with Statkraft to investigate potential offshore wind power projects on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The three parties are interested in developing and operating large-scale offshore wind parks in Norway that would export green electricity to European customers.
One area under investigation will be use of bottom-fixed offshore wind at the Sørlige Nordsjø II (SN2) projects.
The parties plan to set up an integrated project team handling joint preparation and submission of an acreage application, and further development activities.
Aker Offshore Wind, which has an ambition to become a fully-fledged independent power producer, would take the lead in the construction phase.
Statkraft, which claims to be the largest provider of green electricity in Europe, will lead the operations phase and the marketing of the green electricity.
Aker Horizons, dedicated to investing in and developing companies specializing in renewable energy and decarbonization technologies, will contribute experience in financial structuring, strategy project execution, and deployment of digital solutions.
The partners are currently assessing export possibilities to mainland Europe and the UK, and potentially electrification of oil and gas facilities.
BP, Equinor formalize US offshore wind partnership
BP and Equinor have completed the formation of their strategic US offshore wind partnership.
This includes BP’s $1.1-billion purchase from Equinor of a 50% interest in two major lease areas off the US East Coast. The new partnership is expected to develop up to 4.4 GW through two projects – Empire Wind and Beacon Wind – and together pursue further growth in the US offshore wind market.
The completion of the partnership follows the recent success of the Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 projects in being selected to provide New York state with 2.5 GW of power. This is the biggest US offshore wind award to date, BP said. Together with the existing award to supply 816 MW from the Empire Wind 1 development, this represents a total commitment to provide 3.3 GW of renewable offshore wind energy to the state of New York.
The execution of the procurement award is subject to the successful negotiation of a purchase and sale agreement with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Dev Sanyal, BP’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy, said: “We see significant opportunities by rapidly growing BP’s offshore wind business, making a major contribution to our strategic goals and developing assets that will provide long-term, stable returns.”
The Empire Wind lease area, awarded to Equinor in 2016, is 15-30 mi (24-48 km) southeast of Long Island and has a total area of 80,000 acres (125 sq mi). Its two phases of development have a potential generation capacity of 2 GW.
The Beacon Wind lease area covers a total area of 128,000 acres (200 sq mi), about 20 mi (32 km) south of Nantucket and 60 mi (97 km) east of Montauk Point. When fully developed its two phases are expected to have a total generating capacity of 2.4 GW.
According to BP, the staffing levels for the projects will evolve over time so that, once in operation, they will be staffed equally from both companies.
BP said it plans to become an integrated energy company. The company aims to grow its net renewable generating capacity from 2.5 GW in 2019 to 20 GW by 2025 and to around 50 GW by 2030. Also, the company said it aims to increase annual low carbon investment 10-fold by 2030 to around $5 billion a year.
Trio team up for Japan’s offshore wind industry
Fugro and NYK have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Japanese geoscience specialist OYO Corp. (OYO).
The addition of OYO is expected to further strengthen Fugro and NYK’s position as service providers for the growing offshore wind site characterization market in Japan.
The companies will provide a comprehensive service for the offshore wind energy industry in Japan through the combination of the joint operation of an offshore geotechnical investigation vessel by NYK and Fugro, Fugro’s global knowledge and experience in site investigations for offshore wind farms, and OYO’s insights into the Japanese geoscience market.
ABS to class first Jones Act wind farm SOV
The first US-flagged Jones Act offshore wind farm service operation vessel (SOV) ever ordered will be built to ABS Class. Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) will engineer, construct, and operate the SOV for long-term charter to service the planned Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind offshore wind farms in the northeast US. The 80-m (262-ft) long vessel is expected to operate on diesel electric power meeting EPA Tier 4 emission standards and feature proprietary ECO variable frequency drive to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
