OX2 targets 1GW Swedish onshore wind with Finnish paper maker
OX2 targets 1GW Swedish onshore wind with Finnish paper maker | Windpower Monthly
Swedish developer OX2 has announced a partnership with Finnish paper manufacturer Stora Enso to jointly build 1GW of onshore wind projects by the end of the decade.
OX2 said the agreement would cover projects expected to be installed on land in Sweden owned by Stora Enso. All of the planned wind farms are in the early stages of development at present.
“The land of Stora Enso has great potential for wind power and we will work together to meet the needs of the society and industry for more electricity in near future,” Anders Nilsson, head of onshore wind development in Sweden at OX2, said.
The companies are also considering jointly developing solar and battery storage projects.
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.