Sweden’s Vattenfall has decided to stop the development of the 1.4 GW Norfolk Boreas offshore wind project in the UK citing rising expenses.
Vattenfall said in an earnings statement that the decision would have a total impact on earnings of SEK 5.5bn ($537m).
The company said that demand for fossil-free electricity is rising but that higher inflation and capital costs are affecting the entire energy sector with costs increasing up to 40%.
“We have decided to stop the development of Norfolk Boreas in its current form and not take an investment decision now due to mentioned factors, which triggers the impairment,” Vattenfall said.
The Swedish firm will now examine how to move forward with the entire Norfolk Zone, which in addition to Boreas also includes the Vanguard East and West projects. Together, the three projects were supposed to produce around 4.2 GW of electricity.
“We have attractive wind power projects in the pipeline, and investment decisions will always be based on profitability. We are convinced that offshore wind power is crucial for energy security and meeting the climate goals in Europe,” the company added.
A lot of big names are also connected to the development of the Norfolk Boreas and their contracts are now in the air.
Namely, DEME Offshore won an export cable contract, Aker Solutions and Siemens Energy were supposed to provide the grid connection infrastructure for the wind farm, Allseas won transport and installation work, while Havfram Wind was chosen as the preferred wind turbine installation supplier, among others.
