Statoil has submitted a bid in the offshore wind tender Hollandse Kust Zuid area I&II, an up to 760 MW project in the Dutch part of the North Sea. This is the first non-subsidy tender for offshore wind projects in the world.
'The Netherlands have set ambitious climate targets and we are keen to contribute to this development with renewable and low carbon energy solutions. Statoil has for many years been one of the key suppliers of energy to the Netherlands and we are committed to continue to be so for decades to come. The zero-subsidy tender demonstrates the cost competitiveness for offshore wind and the technology's massive global growth potential. Cheaper clean energy will benefit the consumers,' says Irene Rummelhoff, Executive vice president for New Energy Solutions in Statoil.
Statoil intends to play a key role in shaping the future of energy and contribute to the transition to a low-carbon world.
As part of Statoil’s development from a focused oil and gas company to a broad energy major, the company has an ambition to invest around EUR 10 billion in profitable renewable and low carbon projects in the coming years.
'Getting access to attractive renewable projects like Hollandse Kust Zuid is part of the Statoil’s strategy to gradually complement the oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy projects. We are encouraged to see that increased competition, improved and more cost-efficient technologies, close collaboration with suppliers and increased deployment have significantly reduced the cost of offshore wind over the last year,' says Rummelhoff.
Statoil is today partner and operator of some of the largest offshore wind farms in Europe providing energy to more than 1 million households in the UK and Germany. In October Statoil also opened the world’s first floating offshore wind farm offshore Scotland.
When the Dudgeon offshore wind farm in the UK was put into full operation in November 2017 construction costs had been reduced by more than 15% since the investment decision was made, from GBP 1.5 billion to approximately GBP 1.25 billion. This was achieved through solid project execution and came without any serious incidents.
'We continuously seek to drive down the costs of offshore wind and maintaining a high HSE standard. An important element in our application is to apply future-fit operations & maintenance concepts suitable for the Hollandse Kust area. Building on our extensive offshore experience and more than 40 years as one of the largest energy providers in Europe, we believe we have a robust and efficient project proposal that is the basis for our application. The project proposal will be firmed up in the months to come and we expect to be able, through cooperation with selected suppliers, to improve it even further. We see the Dutch energy market providing sustainable long-term value and we want to expand our position in this market,' says Rummelhoff.
Grid connection is not part of the scope of the application, and will be provided by the Dutch grid operator TenneT, scheduled to be available from July 2021.
The award of Hollandse Kust Zuid area I&II is expected to take place in March 2018.
Source: Statoil
