Danish CIP To Pour USD 3 Billion Into Philippines’ Offshore Wind Push
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) will commit USD 3 billion (approximately EUR 2.6 billion) to build its first offshore wind farm in the Philippines.
This opening paragraph gives a few more details.
In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said that the company is committed to investing in the Philippines through its partner, ACEN – Renewable Energy Solutions.
It does seem that the Philippines are putting out the red carpet for Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and no wonder if you look at the first paragraph of the Danish firm’s Wikipedia entry.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (“CIP”) is a Danish investment firm specializing in infrastructure investments, particularly wind power.[1][2] CIP is one of the world’s largest dedicated renewables investment firms with €32 billion raised and a project pipeline of 120 GW.
But, are these two articles on offshoreWind.biz hinting at delay in the approval of UK projects?
- UK Delays Permit Decision for CIP’s Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm
- Permit Decision Delayed for 1.5 GW UK Offshore Wind Farm
Although the second project, which is the Outer Dowsing Wind Farm, is not a Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners project delaying decisions surely doesn’t give confidence to investors.
So have Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners decided to test the new virgin waters of the Philippines?
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.
- There is certainly a large amount of wind power on the map.
- Hornsea 1, 2 and 3 supply Humberside.
- Hornsea 4 will supply Norwich and North Norfolk.
- Norfolk Vanguard West would probably act with the other two wind farms in RWE’ Norfolk cluster.
- Ignoring Hornsea and Norfolk Vanguard West gives a total around 4.5 GW.
- 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.
H2ercules
H2ercules is a project that will create the German hydrogen network.
The H2ercules web site, introduces the project with these two paragraphs.
A faster ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in Germany is more important than ever in order to drive forward the decarbonisation programme, put the German energy system on a more robust footing, and thus contribute towards a green security of supply. What this needs is a geographical realignment of the infrastructure for energy in gas form: Instead of flowing from the east of Germany to the west and south of the country, the gas – natural gas now, hydrogen in the future – will have to make its way in future from generation locations in the north-west to centres of consumption located mainly in the west and south. That also means that new sources will have to be connected, and gaps in existing pipeline networks will have to be closed. To speed up this vital process, OGE and RWE have developed the national infrastructure project “H2ercules”, which is intended to supply consumers in Germany’s south and west with domestically produced green hydrogen from the north of the country, in addition to imported sources. This will involve connecting up the electrolyser capacities that are currently being planned and developing more besides. RWE wants to create up to 1 GW of additional electrolyser capacity as part of the H2ercules project. For the connection component, OGE is planning to put 1,500 km of pipelines in place. For the most part, this will mean converting pipelines from the existing natural gas network to hydrogen, supplemented by newly constructed facilities. Converting natural gas pipelines is not only the more cost-efficient solution, but it also allows for a faster schedule. The system is expected to be supplemented by the planned hydrogen storages of RWE.
The current plan is to complete the project in three stages between 2026 and 2030, in order to connect industries to the hydrogen supply as soon as possible. The aim of this collaboration across multiple value levels is to resolve the chicken-and-egg problem on a super-sized scale and also smooth the way forward for other projects.
Note.
There will be a lot of conversion of the existing natural gas network to hydrogen.
RWE wants to create up to 1 GW of additional electrolyser capacity as part of the H2ercules project.
The second paragraph indicates to me, that they want to move fast.
This map from the H2ercules web site, indicate the proposed size of the network in 2030.
These three paragraphs describe how H2ercules will be developed.
OGE and RWE are both strong companies that aim to combine forces as part of the H2ercules project in order to overcome this Herculean task. While the task for OGE will be to convert the required gas pipelines to hydrogen and construct new pipelines, RWE will expand its electrolyser capacity and import green hydrogen in addition. Gas-fired power stations with a capacity of at least 2 GW will be converted to hydrogen, and new H2 -storages as well as H2-storages repurposed from gas storages on the Dutch border will be connected to the hydrogen supply system.
H2ercules also opens up new opportunities to connect Germany’s future centres of hydrogen consumption to key import routes, first via pipelines from Belgium and the Netherlands, and later via Norway and also from southern and eastern Europe, with the added prospects of import terminals for green molecules in Germany’s north. The project is thus contributing significantly to the creation of a European hydrogen market.
The first additional companies and organisations have already indicated their interest in this project, and it is expected that in the future smaller businesses will benefit in addition to large-scale customers, as the entire industry is guided towards a decarbonised future.
These are my thoughts.
Why Is It Called H2ercules?
I suspect, it’s nothing more, than the Germans wanted a recognisable and catchy name.
- Name selection is not helped by the German for hydrogen, which is wasserstoff.
- Hercules is Herkules in German, which doesn’t really help.
- Projekt Wasserstoff isn’t as memorable as H2ercules, which at least isn’t English.
It looks to me, that the Germans have come up with a good acceptable compromise.
The Wilhemshaven Hydrogen Import Terminal
German energy company; Uniper is building a hydrogen import terminal at Wilhemshaven to feed H2ercules and German industry with hydrogen from places like Australia, Namibia and the Middle East. I wrote about this hydrogen import terminal in Uniper To Make Wilhelmshaven German Hub For Green Hydrogen; Green Ammonia Import Terminal.
Wilhelmshaven and Great Yarmouth are 272 miles or 438 kilometres apart, so a pipeline or a tanker link would be feasible to export hydrogen from Notfolk to Germany.
I suspect RWE will build a giant offshore electrolyser close to the Norfolk wind farms and the hydrogen will be exported by tanker or pipeline to Germany or to anybody else who pays the right price.
RWE’s Norfolk Wind Farms
What is interesting me, is what Germany company; RWE is up to. Note they are one of the largest UK electricity producers.
In December 2023, they probably paid a low price, for the rights for 3 x 1.4 GW wind farms about 50 km off North-East Norfolk from in-trouble Swedish company; Vattenfall and have signed contracts to build them fairly fast.
In March 2024, I wrote about the purchase in RWE And Vattenfall Complete Multi-Gigawatt Offshore Wind Transaction In UK.
This map from RWE shows the three wind farms, with respect to the Norfolk coast.
Could it be, that RWE intend to build a giant offshore electrolyser to the East of Great Yarmouth?
- The planning permission for an electrolyser, which is eighty kilometres offshore, would be far easier, than for one onshore.
- The hydrogen pipeline between Norfolk and Germany would be less than 400 kilometres.
- Hydrogen could also be brought ashore in Norfolk, if the price was right.
- The Bacton gas terminal is only a few miles North of Great Yarmouth.
But the big advantage, is that the only onshore construction could be restricted to the Bacton gas terminal.
Adding More Wind Farms To The Electrolyser
Looking at the RWE map, the following should be noted.
South of Norfolk Vanguard East, there is the East Anglian Array wind farm, which by the end of 2026, will consist of these wind farms.
- East Anglia One – 714 MW – 2020
- East Anglia One North – 800 MW – 2026
- East Anglia Two – 900 MW – 2026
- East Anglia Three – 1372 MW – 2026
Note.
- The date is the commissioning date.
- There is a total capacity of 3786 MW
- All wind farms are owned by Iberdrola.
- There may be space to add other sections to the East Anglian Array.
I doubt, it would be difficult for some of Iberdrola’s megawatts to be used to generate hydrogen for Germany.
To the East of Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard East, it’s Dutch waters, so I doubt the Norfolk cluster can expand to the East.
But looking at this map of wind farms, I suspect that around 4-5 GW of new wind farms could be squeezed in to the North-West of the the Norfolk Cluster and South of the Hornsea wind farms.
The 1.5 GW Outer Dowsing wind farm, which is being planned, will be in this area.
I can certainly see 8-10 GW of green electricity capacity being available to electrolysers to the North-East of Great Yarmouth.
Conclusion
UK offshore electricity could be the power behind H2ercules.
- The hydrogen could be sent to Germany by pipeline or tanker ship, as the distance is under 400 kilometers to the Wilhelmshaven hydrogen hub.
- Extra electrolysers and wind farms could be added as needed.
- The hydrogen won’t need to be shipped halfway round the world.
The cash flow won’t hurt the UK.
.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice To Stand In Boston And Skegness
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC,
This is the sub-heading.
The leader of Reform UK has announced he is to stand as a candidate in Boston and Skegness at the general election.
Anr this is the first paragraph.
Richard Tice announced his intention to stand in the Lincolnshire constituency on social media on Thursday morning.
This article on The Times is entitled What are Reform UK’s Policies — And How Is The Party Polling?
The article has these two paragraphs on energy, decarbonisation and net-zero.
Energy and net zero is another major area of focus. Tice has referred to net zero as “net stupid” and wants to accelerate the granting of oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
Reform has said all existing carbon emissions targets should be abandoned, due to what it says is an unfair burden being placed on taxpayers and consumers.
I shall do some arithmetic to give a few pointers to the constituency he hopes to win.
The Boston and Skegness constituency is a large green energy hub, where in a few years electricity from various source will be collected for distribution to East Anglia and the South of England.
Currently, in operation, under construction or in planning, are the following sources of green electricity.
- Viking Link is a 1.4 GW interconnector between Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and Denmark.
- EGL3 is a 2 GW interconnector between Lincolnshire and Peterhead in Scotland.
- EGL4 is a 2 GW interconnector between Lincolnshire and Westfield in Scotland.
- Lincs is a 270 MW wind farm.
- Lynn and Inner Dowsing is a 194 MW wind farm.
- Outer Dowsing is a 1500 MW wind farm.
- Triton Knoll is a 857 MW wind farm.
- Race Bank is a 573 MW wind farm.
Note.
- The three interconnectors can send electricity in both directions.
- The wind farms are in North-South order.
- There would appear to be space in the sea for more wind farms.
- The 950 MW Spalding gas-fired power station is available locally, when the wind is on strike.
- The owners of Spalding power station are rumoured to be putting a large battery alongside the power station.
The totals are as follows.
- 1.4 GW – Interconnector to Denmark
- 4 GW – Interconnector to Scotland
- 3.4 GW – Wind farms
- 1 GW – Gas-fired power station.
These total up to 9.8 GW of power.
Conclusion
Consider.
- It would appear that Richard Tice of Reform UK, has decided to stand in a constancy with one of the highest levels of green energy and energy security in the UK.
- It is also likely to be a constituency, which in the future will benefit from investment and employment, as more wind farms are developed in the North Sea.
It looks to me, that he’s a politician with very little mathematical ability.
The Lincolnshire Wind Powerhouse
In August 2022, reports started to appear about the Outer Dowsing Wind Farm, like this article on offshoreWIND.biz, which is entitled Corio, Total Submit Scoping Report For 1.5 GW Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Project.
There is now a web site.
- Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind is a 1.5GW project located approximately 54km off the Lincolnshire coast.
- It is a joint project between TotalEnergies and Corio Generation.
This map from the Outer Dowsing Wind Farm web site, shows the location of the wind farm.
These are the sizes of the various windfarms, that are shown on the map.
- Dudgeon – 402 MW
- Hornsea 1 – 1218 MW
- Hornsea 2 – 1386 MW
- Hornsea 3 – 2852 MW
- Hornsea 4 – 1000 MW – Not shown on map.
- Humber Gateway – 219 MW
- Lincs – 270 MW
- Lynn and Inner Dowsing – 194 MW
- Norfolk Vanguard West – No information, but Norfolk Vanguard is 1800 MW
- Outer Dowsing – 1500 MW
- Race Bank – 580 MW
- Sheringham Shoal – 317 MW
- Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Extensions – 719 MW
- Triton Knoll – 857 MW
- Westernmost Rough – 210 MW
Note that these total up to 11724 MW, but with Norfolk Vanguard the total is 135224 MW.
Gas-Fired Power Stations
There are also several active gas-fired power stations.
- Immingham – 1240 MW
- Keadby – 734 MW
- Keadby 2 – 893 MW
- Keadby 3 – 910 MW – Planned to be fitted with carbon capture.
- Saltend – 1200 MW
- South Humber Bank – 1365 MW
- Spalding – 860 MW
- Sutton Bridge – 819 MW
Note that these total up to 8021 MW.
Viking Link
The Viking Link is a 1.4 GW interconnector, that links Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and Denmark, that should be operational at the end of 2023.
Gas Storage
There are two major gas storage facilities in the rea.
- Aldbrough Gas Storage is formed of salt caverns to the North of the Humber.
- Rough Gas Storage is to the East of the Humber in a depleted gas field.
Both will eventually be converted to store hydrogen, which could be used by local industrial users or the proposed hydrogen power station at Keadby.
The Anonymous Widower 