Factbox: Potential bidders in Norway's first offshore wind tender

Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding ASA

08/02/2022 06:00

(Updates with details on Vattenfall, separate floating offshore
bid by Agder Energi and Green Investment Group)
    By Nora Buli
    OSLO, Feb 8 (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 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 that have confirmed their
participation are:
    
    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.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2UI239 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NK3GS
    
    Shell  RDSa.L  is partnering with local utilities BKK
 BRGKM.UL  and Lyse  LYSEK.UL  to prepare bids for both Utsira
Nord and Soerlige Nordsjoe II.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NZ4CZ
    
    British oil major BP  BP.L  announced it will join Norway's
Statkraft  STATKF.UL  and Aker Offshore Wind  AOW-E.OL  to bid
for permits in both areas.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NW4CQ
    
    Denmark's Orsted  ORSTED.CO  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  ENI.MI  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    
        
    Italy's Eni 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  and
Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG)  MQG.AX .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2P92ZX
    
    Separately, Agder Energi and GIG have announced plans to bid
for offshore wind acreage at Utsira Nord.
    
    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  SUNNH.UL , plans projects for both sites.     
    
    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.   

 (Reporting by Nora Buli
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((Nora.Buli@thomsonreuters.com; (+47) 21 04 05 56; Reuters
Messaging: nora.buli.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))