The Anonymous Widower

Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Acquires Stake In 573 MW Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

A consortium made up of investment funds belonging to Australia-headquartered Macquarie Asset Management and Spring Infrastructure Capital has reached an agreement to divest a 37.5 per cent stake in the 573 MW Race Bank offshore wind farm in the UK to Norges Bank Investment Management.

These four paragraphs give more details of the deal.

The stake was sold to the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund for approximately GBP 330 million (about EUR 390.6 million).

According to Norges Bank Investment Management, the fund acquired Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5’s 25 per cent stake and Spring Infrastructure 1 Investment Limited Partnership’s 12.5 per cent interest in the Race Bank offshore wind farm.

A Macquarie Capital and Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 consortium acquired a 50 per cent stake in Race Bank during the construction phase in 2016. Macquarie Capital divested its 25 per cent stake in the wind farm in 2017.

With the deal, Arjun Infrastructure Partners will remain co-investor for 12.5 per cent of the wind farm and Ørsted will remain a 50 per cent owner and operator of Race Bank.

These are my thoughts.

The Location of Race Bank Wind Farm

This map from the Outer Dowsing Web Site, shows Race Bank and all the other wind farms off the South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts.

From North to South, wind farm sizes and owners are as follows.

• Hornsea 1 – 1218 MW – Ørsted, Global Infrastructure Partners
• Hornsea 2 – 1386 MW – Ørsted,Global Infrastructure Partners
• Hornsea 3 – 2852 MW – Ørsted
• Hornsea 4 – 2600 MW – Ørsted
• Westernmost Rough – 210 MW – Ørsted and Partners
• Humber Gateway – 219 MW – E.ON
• Triton Knoll – 857 MW – RWE
• Outer Dowsing – 1500 MW – Corio Generation, TotalEnergies
• Race Bank – 573 MW – Ørsted,
• Dudgeon – 402 MW – Equinor, Statkraft
• Lincs – 270 MW – Centrica, Siemens, Ørsted
• Lynn and Inner Dowsing – 194 MW – Centrica, TCW
• Sheringham Shoal – 317 MW – Equinor, Statkraft
• Norfolk Vanguard West – 1380 MW – RWE

Note.

1. There is certainly a large amount of wind power on the map.
2. Hornsea 1, 2 and 3 supply Humberside.
3. Hornsea 4 will supply Norwich and North Norfolk.
4. Norfolk Vanguard West would probably act with the other two wind farms in RWE’ Norfolk cluster.
5. Ignoring Hornsea and Norfolk Vanguard West gives a total around 4.5 GW.
6. There are also two 2 GW interconnectors to Scotland (Eastern Green Link 3 and Eastern Green Link 4) and the 1.4 GW Viking Link to Denmark.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a large offshore electrolyser being built in the East Lincolnshire/West Norfolk area.

The primary purpose would be to mop up any spare wind electricity to avoid curtailing the wind turbines.

The hydrogen would have these uses.

• Provide hydrogen for small, backup and peaker power stations.
• Provide hydrogen for local industry, transport and agriculture,
• Provide hydrogen for off-gas-grid heating.
• Provide methanol for coastal shipping.

Any spare hydrogen would be exported by coastal tanker to Germany to feed H2ercules.

Do We Need Wind-Driven Hydrogen Electrolysers About Every Fifty Miles Or so Along The Coast?

I can certainly see a string along the East Coast between Humberside and Kent.

• Humberside – Being planned by SSE
• East Lincolnshire/West Norfolk – See above
• North-East Norfolk – See RWE Goes For An Additional 10 GW Of Offshore Wind In UK Waters In 2030.
• Dogger Bank – See RWE Goes For An Additional 10 GW Of Offshore Wind In UK Waters In 2030.
• Sizewell – See Sizewell C And Hydrogen.
• Herne Bay – Under construction

I can see others at possibly Freeport East and London Gateway.

June 18, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Hydrogen | Ørsted, Corio Generation, Denmark, Eastern Green Link 3, Eastern Green Link 4, Electrolysis, Freeport East, H2ercules, Hornsea Wind Farm, Lincolnshire, London Gateway, Norfolk, Norway, Norwich, Offshore Wind Power, Outer Dowsing Wind Farm, Race Bank Wind Farm, Scotland, Sizewell, Triton Knoll Wind Farm, Viking Link, Wind Power