Contractor gets green light for offshore HVDC transmission system in UK
Contractor gets green light for offshore HVDC transmission system in UK | Windpower Monthly
Located more than 47km from UK’s Norfolk coast, Norfolk Vanguard West was planned to be the first phase of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone, which also includes the Norfolk Vanguard East and the recently-shelved Norfolk Boreas developments.
The project is still subject to regulatory approvals and Vattenfall’s final investment decision (FID) and the contract includes a balanced risk/reward profile based on principles for long-term collaboration.
Aker’s remit includes joint responsibility with Siemens Energy for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the HVDC offshore platform. The fabrication of the topside will be a joint venture with Drydocks World Dubai, while the substructure will be fabricated at Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal, Norway.
“The development of the entire Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone could ultimately require up to three HVDC platforms in succession, which would improve the long-term predictability and give positive repeat effects and standardisation within the supplier industry,” said Sturla Magnus, executive vice president of new build at Aker Solutions.
Contract value
Aker Solutions will book a contract value of about NOK 4 billion (€3.4bn) in the fourth quarter of 2023 in its ‘renewables and field development’ segment, reflecting the compensated work that is to be performed until the expected FID. Following the final award, the total contract value for Aker Solutions is estimated to be about NOK 6 billion (€5.1bn).
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.