European oil giants BP and Total won the rights to develop several offshore wind farms in the UK yesterday.
BP teamed up with German utility EnBW on bids that won the rights to develop two leases that could generate 3 gw of power when operational in seven years.
Meanwhile, Total teamed up with Macquarie’s Green Investment Group to win the rights for a 1.5 gw project off the UK coast.
While we may be new to offshore wind, we’re not new to offshore
The joint venture undertaken by BP and EnBW represent BP’s second major foray into the offshore wind sector, having earlier teamed with Equinor for a project in the US.
BP’s CEO Bernard Looney wrote on Instagram yesterday: “While we may be new to offshore wind, we’re not new to offshore. We have spent more than 50 years working on complex, demanding projects out at sea.”
Shipbrokers Affinity noted in a markets update yesterday that with major oil companies taking the majority of the sites at the UK wind auction on Monday, it is becoming increasingly clear that the renewables sector, and wind in particular, is becoming the “new battleground” for energy companies to “make blue green”, securing a limited sea acreage with potentially unlimited energy generation potential.
