It’s going to be a very busy decade for the world’s seabeds. Acres of land have been auctioned off to developers, totalling billions in bids and projects that stretch up to 2035.
Not all the new tenants are from the offshore wind sector. Several major oil players have also won tenders, including Shell and BP. And for the first time, it wasn’t only European seabeds that were up for grabs. Over in the US, auctions are seeing American seabeds getting leased to tenants who will be developing the site for decades.
Professionals looking to enter renewables will want to watch this space. Here are all the biggest winners of 2022, and the next wave of developments that will support our bid to reach climate goals.
Northeastern US Seabeds Snapped Up
Last February, the US held a record-breaking offshore wind auction for its Northeastern coast, the first held by the country’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in three years. The leases awarded developers rights to build in the New York Bight, a triangular inlet that stretches from New Jersey to New York.
Total bids tallied up to a $4.37 billion (£3.8 billion) for 488,000 acres of seabed. That’s an area larger than London and Manchester combined.
On the site will rise developments from six companies, two of which involve oil and gas majors. Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind is a partnership between the UK-owned Shell and France’s EDF Renewables. The win isn’t the first US-based offshore project in Atlantic Shore’s portfolio. The new acquisition–an area with a potential to produce 3 GW of offshore wind energy–will join the company’s 1.5 GW Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1 in New Jersey.
Attentive Energy, a subsidiary of oil supermajor TotalEnergies, secured an area of 84,332 acres for $795 million. The company plans to ramp up renewable energy production to 100 GW by 2030.
Other big spenders include a number of European energy companies. Germany’s RWE, the UK’s National Grid, Denmark-based Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), and Ocean Winds East are some of the players who will build in the area.
The Carolinas Earn Big On Offshore Wind
Further south of the New York Bight, several areas have also been secured for offshore wind projects. TotalEnergies again emerged as a winner in the auction for two areas in the Carolina Long Bay, along with US-based Duke Energy Corp.
Together, the winning bids from the two companies total $315 million. The leases encompass 110,091 acres off the coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina. The area is expected to be able to generate 1.3 GW of offshore wind energy. That’s roughly enough to supply clean energy to half a million homes.
Part of the arrangement is a 20 percent credit–amounting to roughly $42 million–for creating programmes that will develop the US supply chain and training for offshore wind.
ScotWind Floats Several New Projects
Back in Britain, a fiercely competitive ScotWind auction at the start of the year saw seventeen companies locking down acreage around Scotland’s coastlines. Combined, these companies will be paying out £700 million in option fees to the Crown Estate Scotland.
Scotland’s own ScottishPower Renewables landed the most bids, securing leases to three offshore sites. Two of those–the 3 GW MarramWind and 2 GW CampionWind–will be developed in partnership with Shell. Both are floating wind projects, and will strengthen Scotland’s position as the pioneer of the technology.
After the ScottishPower Renewables and Shell partnership, the biggest spender of the auction is oil major BP and SSE Renewables, both based in Britain.
BP will pay out £85.9 million to develop Morven, a fixed foundation wind farm with an estimated capacity of 2.9 GW. The project will be done in partnership with EnBW, a German energy company.
SSE Renewables is paying the same amount to develop a gigantic floating project in partnership with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni and CIP. Once completed, the site is expected to generate 2.6 GW, or enough power to supply 4.6 million Scottish homes.
Other companies in ScotWind’s winner’s circle are Milan-based Falck Renewables; Ocean Winds; GIG, RIDG, and TotalEnergies-owned venture Offshore Wind Power; and multinational offshore services provider, DEME.
Three more leases were secured through ScotWind later in the year, granted to companies who weren’t able to last January. Ocean Winds and ESB Asset Development both secured rights for 500 MW sites. Meanwhile, global renewable company Mainstream Renewable Power will be developing a 1.8 GW area. All three will be floating wind projects.
The developments are expected to pump local communities flush with new jobs, creating windows for oil and gas workers to transition to renewables. “People working right now in the oil and gas sector in the northeast of Scotland can be confident of opportunities for their future,” said Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
A First For Finland
In a first for the country, the Finnish government has opened and awarded leases to two seabed sites for offshore wind. Both permits have gone to state-owned companies.
One of the leases goes to wind energy developer Suomen Hyötytuuli Oy. The project is an extension of Finland’s first offshore wind farm, the 44.3 MW Tahkoluoto wind farm. Once completed, the expansion is expected to add 300 MW to 500 MW in capacity.
Metsähallitus, a state-owned agency that manages the use and protection of about a third of Finland’s land and water areas, will be developing the second project found 30 kilometres from the coast of Korsnäs. Once completed, the wind farm is expected to have a capacity of 1.3 GW.
