Factbox: Potential bidders in Norway's first offshore wind tender
09/06/2021 12:30
(Updates with Orsted joining Fred. Olsen Renewables/Hafslund
Eco consortium)
OSLO, June 9 (Reuters) - Norway has earmarked two areas in
the North Sea to accommodate up to 4.5 gigawatt (GW) of floating
and bottom-fixed wind turbine capacity and will identify
additional offshore areas for development amid strong interest
from energy firms.
Utsira Nord, an area of 1,000 square km (386.1 square
miles), is located northwest of the oil industry capital
Stavanger and is seen as suitable for floating wind power.
Soerlige Nordsjoe II, some 2,590 square km and bordering the
Danish sector of the North Sea, is suitable for bottom-fixed
wind power turbines. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NQ1YR
Companies and joint ventures likely to participate include
the following:
Denmark's Orsted has formed a consortium with Fred. Olsen
Renewables, a subsidiary of Bonheur BON.OL and utility
Hafslund-Eco, which plans to jointly develop offshore wind in
both areas. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NR2QO
Equinor EQNR.OL will seek acreage in both areas. It is
planning a bid with Eni renewables unit Vaargroenn for a
floating offshore wind farm at Utsira North and has teamed up
with Germany's RWE RWEG.DE and Norsk Hydro NHY.OL for a
planned wind farm at Soerlige Nordsjoe II. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2MT1N6
Germany's EnBW EBKG.DE and several Norwegian partners,
including wholesale and retail food supplier Norgesgruppen, have
announced the Norseman Consortia initiative to develop a 1.4 GW
wind farm in the Soerlige Nordsjoe II area. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NC1F9
Aker Offshore Wind AOW-ME.OL is planning the 0.5 GW
Vestavindar project at Utsira Nord and the 1.2 GW Soennavindar
project at Soerlige Nordsjoe II. It has entered a partnership
with top utility Statkraft STATK.UL to develop the latter
site.
Italy's Eni ENI.MI and Norway's HitecVision HITV.NFF
have formed the Vaargroenn joint venture and seek acreage at
Soerlige Nordsjoe II together with utility Agder Energi
AGDER.UL . urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2HX29X
Magnora MGNR.OL and TechnipFMC 1T1.F plan to bid for a
site at Utsira Nord through their Magnora Offshore Wind
partnership. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LG2J3
Deep Wind Offshore, a joint venture of shipping company
Knutsen OAS and utilities Haugaland Kraft and Sunnhordland
Kraftlag, plans projects for both sites.
Seagust, a joint venture by industrial investment firms
Arendals Fossekompani (AFK) AFK.OL and Ferd, is considering
bids for both areas. L5N2NK3GS
A joint venture of offshore supply firm NorSea, majority
owned by shipping firm WWI.OL Wilhemsen, and Belgian offshore
wind development firm Parkwind has said it plans to apply for
licences in both areas.
Shell RDSa.L has said it is considering a participation in
the tenders and that its sees large potential in Norwegian
offshore wind. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2KE4ST
(Reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Jan
Harvey)
((Nora.Buli@thomsonreuters.com; (+47) 21 04 05 56; Reuters
Messaging: nora.buli.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))