London-based supermajor BP has submitted bids for two offshore wind leases in the Netherlands that together have the potential for generating capacity of 1.4 GW.
BP has bid in the tender process for rights to develop the Hollandse Kust West wind farm zone sites VI and VII, located approximately 53 km off the country’s west coast and containing two wind farm sites, with a total area of 176 sq km.
Bids for site VI will be evaluated on eco-innovation criteria, where BP committed to nearly €75m of spending to create a positive impact on the marine habitat, supporting advanced ecosystem data analysis and establishing a new Netherlands North Sea offshore wind ecological innovation hub to enable further research and collaboration.
Meanwhile, bids for site VII will be evaluated on systems integration criteria, and BP’s bid focuses on coupling offshore wind power generation with new, flexible demand with a focus on the Rotterdam region. Subject to award, the bid proposes, among other things, to integrate the wind farms with a 500 MW electrolysis to produce around 50,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen to meet BP’s Rotterdam refinery demand and support 10,000 barrels a day production of sustainable aviation fuel. Other investments are also planned, and BP said it anticipates investments of up to €2 billion in the decarbonisation of flexible demand in addition to the offshore wind investment.
Shell also recently announced its participation in the tender in partnership with Eneco.
