Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA signed two agreements to sell the bulk of its onshore wind portfolio as it moves to focus its investments more on offshore wind projects.
Statoil will sell its entire 50 percent stake in Sarepta Energi AS to TroenderEnergi Kraft AS for an undisclosed sum.
The company also agreed to sell four onshore wind projects to Finnmark Kraft AS. The deal consists of Arctic Wind AS and three wind farms comprised of the 160MW Hamnefjell, 120MW Båtsfjordfjellet and 160MW Snefjord wind farms.
Statoil intends to dedicate its resources to develop offshore wind power projects, said Ståle Tungesvik, Statoil senior vice president of renewable energy.
«Renewable energy is an important priority for us. We are now in a process where we want to sharpen our focus where we believe we can contribute most,” said Statoil’s senior vice president of Renewable Energy, Staale Tungesvik.
“Offshore wind is an area experiencing strong market growth – and one in which Statoil can utilize its expertise as the world’s largest offshore operator. It means that we are now working to find new owners for the group’s interests in wind farms on land.”
Offshore wind projects
Much of Statoil’s investments in offshore wind lay in areas off the coasts of Britain.
Statoil is currently building the 317MW Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm off the North Norfolk coast in Britain as part of a $1.7 billion joint venture with Norwegian power utility Statkraft.
To be operational early next year, the Sheringham Shoal project can supply electricity for 220,000 households while avoiding 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from reaching the atmosphere a year.
Statoil is also part of the Forewind consortium, which has won contracts to develop 9 gigawatts worth of wind farms in Dogger Bank field on the east coast of Yorkshire in Britain.
Dogger Bank is the largest zone The Crown Estate offered for bidding for offshore wind development last year and has the potential to generate approximately 13 gigawatts of power.
Statoil is also planning to commercialize its Hywind floating turbine and build demonstration farms with three to five floating wind turbines together.
A turbine costs about 400 million Norwegian kroner ($64.9 million) to build and deploy, and is expected to generate about 9 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.
The company already constructed a 2.3-megawatt prototype version of Hywind anchored 10 kilometers offshore at Karmøy in Norway
However, its Scotland that may be one of the first to house the world’s first floating wind farm on its waters after Alex Salmond, the country’s first minister, began negotiations with Statoil for the offshore wind project.
With over 33 percent of Europe’s total offshore wind potential, Britain became a top destination for business wanting to expand their wind portfolios. As of 2010, according to the European Wind Energy Association, said the country has a total installed offshore wind capacity of 1,341 MW.
This is followed by Denmark with 854 MW, the Netherlands with 249 MW and Belgium with 195 MW. Norway only has 2.3 MW of generating capacity.
