Norwegian firms in joint offshore wind bid with UK

Norway’s Statkraft and StatoilHydro have joined forces with two other leading international energy companies to bid to win exclusive rights to develop wind farms in the United Kingdom.

StatoilHydro has developed HyWind based on floating concrete constructions familiar from North Sea oil installations. Photo: StatoilHydro.

Scottish and Southern Energy-owned Airtricity and npower renewables, the UK subsidiary of RWE Innogy have agreed to form a consortium with Statkraft and StatoilHydro, two of Norway’s largest companies.

Named Forewind, the consortium will combine the four firms’ experience of offshore project development, as well as pooling their financial capacity.

In a joint statement issued Feb. 26, 2009 the four companies said: “The consortium combines extensive experience of international offshore project delivery and renewables development, construction, asset management and operations, with UK utility expertise spanning the complete electricity value chain.”

Oslo-based Statkraft describes itself as “Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy”, with an installed capacity of more than 14GW. In the UK the firm operates one hydropower plant in Wales, where it is currently constructing a wind farm. It has consent for a second wind project in Scotland.

StatoilHydro said that the UK offshore wind market is “key to the company’s ambition to use its extensive experience from complex offshore oil and gas projects to generate value from offshore wind”.

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