Factbox: Potential bidders for Norway's first offshore wind areas

Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding ASA

29/03/2023 12:28

By Nora Buli
       OSLO, March 29 (Reuters) - Norway on Wednesday opened
tenders for two areas in the North Sea to build wind parks that
could produce some 3 gigawatt (GW) of electricity, in a first
step towards a goal of producing 30 GW by 2040, garnering strong
interest from energy firms.
    Soerlige Nordsjoe II, bordering the Danish sector of the
North Sea, is suitable for bottom-fixed wind turbines. It will
be developed in two phases, with an initial 1.5 GW offered to
supply Norway only. 
    Utsira Nord is located northwest of oil industry capital
Stavanger and is suitable for floating wind turbines. Three
licences for 0.5 GW capacity each are on offer.            
    Companies and joint ventures that have confirmed their
participation are:
        
    Shell  RDSa.L  has partnered with local utilities Eviny and
Lyse to prepare bids for both Utsira Nord and Soerlige Nordsjoe
II. 
    
    BP  BP.L  announced it will join Norway's Statkraft
 STATKF.UL  and Mainstream Renewable Power, previously operating
as Aker Offshore Wind, to bid for permits at Soerlige Nordsjoe
II.
    
    Statkraft and Mainstream Renewable Power have also teamed up
with Ocean Winds, a joint venture of France's Engie  ENGIE.PA 
and Portugal's EDP  EDP.LS  for a floating offshore wind bid. 
    
    Denmark's Orsted  ORSTED.CO  has formed the Blaavinge
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. 
    
    Equinor  EQNR.OL  is working together with Germany's RWE
 RWEG.DE  and Norsk Hydro  NHY.OL  for a bid at Soerlige
Nordsjoe II. 
    It will also bid at Utsira Nord together with Vaargroenn, a
joint venture of Italian Eni's  ENI.MI  renewable offshoot
Plentitude and Norway's HitecVision  HITV.NFF .
    
    RWE is also planning a bid for Utsira Nord as part of
another consortia, together with northern Norwegian utility NTE
and contractor firm Havfram, majority-owned by HitecVision.
    
        Vaargroenn has also formed the Brigg Vind consortium
with Norwegian utility A Energi and Corio Generation, part of
Macquarie's  MQG.AX  Green Investment Group, for a bid at
Soerlige Nordsjoe II. 
   
    Separately, A Energi and Corio Generation have announced
plans to bid for offshore wind acreage at Utsira Nord.    
    
    French energy major TotalEnergies  TTEF.PA  is part of the
Skjoldblad consortium, together with Spain's Iberdrola  IBE.MC 
and Norwegian firm Norsk Havvind, that will be participating at
both sites.
    
    Sweden's Vattenfall has joined Seagust, a joint venture
between industrial investment firms Arendals Fossekompani (AFK)
 AFK.OL  and Ferd, seeking to bid for both areas. 
    
    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    
        
    Magnora Floating Wind  MGNR.OL  and TechnipFMC  1T1.F  plan
to bid for a site at Utsira Nord through their Magnora Offshore
Wind partnership. 
    
    France's EDF  EDF.PA  is working on bids for both sites
together with Deep Wind Offshore, a joint venture of shipping
company Knutsen OAS and utilities Haugaland Kraft and
Sunnhordland Kraftlag. 
    
    A joint venture of offshore supply firm NorSea, majority
owned by shipping firm Wilhelmsen  WWI.OL  and Belgian offshore
wind development firm Parkwind, has said it plans to apply for
licences in both areas. 
    They are joined by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners for
developing floating offshore wind.
    
    Norwegian specialist firm Odfjell Oceanwind has formed a
partnership with European developer Source Galileo for a bid at
Utsira Nord.

 (Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Gwladys Fouche)
 ((Nora.Buli@thomsonreuters.com; (+47) 21 04 05 56; Reuters
Messaging: nora.buli.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))