Renewables powerhouse making offshore wind comeback

Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy is reviving its interest in offshore wind investments after deciding to bow out and stop investments and sell its ownership stakes in a number of wind farms in late 2015.

The company actively invested in offshore wind projects until late 2015 when it decided to stop further investments and sell its stakes in offshore wind farms in the UK: Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon, Triton Knoll, and Dogger Bank.

Norway’s Statkraft exited its last offshore wind project, Dudgeon, at the end of 2017, but the company said it would remain active within the offshore wind industry through power purchase agreements.

At the time, Statkraft cited limited financial capacity as the reason for no longer investing in offshore wind and exiting existing projects. The company instead decided to put further focus on growth in hydropower, onshore wind, solar, district heating, and other new renewable energy technologies.

But the recent developments, however, indicate that Statkraft is once again showing interest in investing in offshore wind projects.

Earlier this year, Statkraft, Aker Offshore Wind, and Aker Horizons signed a cooperation agreement to explore offshore wind opportunities in their home country – Norway.

The cooperation will investigate the opportunity for bottom-fixed offshore wind at the Sørlige Nordsjø II (SN2), one of the two areas with a combined capacity of 4.5 GW that the Norwegian government opened for lease applications at the beginning of the year.

Statkraft and Aker will establish an integrated project team for joint preparation and submission of an acreage application and further development activities at SN2.

Last year, Aker revealed it will, with a strategic partner, seek to develop two projects with a combined capacity of 1.7 GW at the Utsira Nord and NS2 offshore wind areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The SN2 area could potentially be the site of the 1.2 GW Sønnavindar project, located in water depths ranging from 50 to 70 metres.

And now, North Irish Sea Array (NISA) Windfarm, a company owned by Statkraft, has lodged a Pre-Application Consultation Request with An Bord Pleanála for the North Irish Sea Array wind farm.

An Bord Pleanála is due to give its ruling on NISA’a request by the end of September.

The North Irish Sea Array project has moved on from advanced concept design, and surveys, consultations, and assessments will be carried out to inform the content of a planning application submission for the project.

NISA is targeting a planning submission date in 2022.

The proposed 500 MW project will cover around 226.9 square kilometres in the Irish Sea located between seven and 17 kilometres off the coast of the Dublin, Meath, and Louth counties.

The wind farm will comprise up to 36 wind turbines scheduled to be commissioned by 2026. Construction is expected to start in 2024.

The wind farm’s current layout is based on the concept of developing the proposed turbines in groups or ‘pods’ consisting of 10 to 12 turbines in each pod.