Statoil introduces partner in Hywind Scotland

Statoil has agreed to divest 25% of its assets in Hywind Scotland pilot park, the world’s first floating wind farm, to Masdar.

The wind power farm offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland will power approximately 20,000 households when in production from late 2017.

Through the transaction Statoil and Masdar have agreed to share the development risk and Masdar will cover 25% of previous and future costs. Following this divestment Statoil holds a 75% share in Hywind Scotland.

The pilot park will cover around 4 square kilometres 25 km offshore Peterhead at water depths of 95-120 metres. The average wind speed in this area of the North Sea is around 10 metres per second.

The Hywind Scotland substructures have been constructed in Spain and will arrive at the yard at Stord in Norway later this spring followed by assembly during the summer of 2017, before sail off to Peterhead.

The partnership also consists of a collaboration agreement which will enable the two companies to work together on clean energy technologies across several markets in the near future.

Offshore wind already has a strong foothold in Europe with 11GW installed capacity, and a global potential to reach more than 100 GW by 2030. With fixed turbines, offshore wind is optimal for 20-50 metres water depth. With floating structures such as Hwyind further expansion will be enabled in new deep water areas around the world.

Statoil is a key energy security partner for the UK and pursues a broad range of activities relating to energy production and sales in Britain. Statoil is a leading supplier of natural gas to the British market, with a market share around 20 percent.

Statoil is developing an offshore wind portfolio with the capacity of providing over 1 million homes with renewable energy. Statoil currently holds a 40% share in the Sheringham Shoal wind farm in the UK, which has been in production since 2012. Masdar and Statoil are partners in the Dudgeon offshore wind farm, located offshore Norfolk in the UK, which will come in production during 2017. In 2016 Statoil acquired 50% of the Arkona offshore wind farm in Germany, which will come in production in 2019. Statoil was also declared the provisional winner of the U.S. government’s wind lease sale offshore New York at the end of 2016.

Source: Statoil