As other oil and gas giants are slowly abandoning or halting their offshore wind plans, others are going against the stream, building up the pipeline for future ventures.
TotalEnergies confirmed today a partnership with RWE to jointly develop a 4 GW Germany offshore wind portfolio, increasing their pipeline of developing projects in the German North Sea to an impressive 5.5 GW. Total has in recent years been among the most aggressive developers in lease rounds for new sites, securing several projects in the UK and Germany, in addition to partner up with developers on existing projects in Denmark and The Netherlands.
Equinor, also a traditionally oil and gas focused company, announced taking a 9.8 percent stake in Ørsted, one of the largest players in offshore wind. Equinor has recently been quite vocal about exiting some offshore wind markets and toning down their plans. But actions speak louder then words, and Equinor submitted the winning bid for a new US east-coast project earlier this summer, took on a new Australia floating project, and the markets they are exiting include the likes of Vietnam and Spain, where policy delays and an unclear outlook is making project development difficult for just about everyone.
Equinor’s move to take a sizable stake in Ørsted is also interesting, as it does signal a strong commitment to the offshore wind going forward. Although some difficulties with their US portfolio recently, Ørsted is a leading example on offshore wind, boasting one of the largest portfolios of operational capacity, and has built up a promising pipeline of projects in markets such as the UK and Poland.
On the other hand, Shell and BP seem to be backing out of their offshore wind plans, selling down in projects in the development phase in markets such as the US and South Korea. Perhaps due to challenging markets conditions, pressure from stakeholders to funnel investment to more profitable ventures, reduced targets for renewable energy or perhaps a mix of them all, we see quite a split in strategy from Total and Equinor, making a clear contrast on which companies are committing to the industry, and which are not.
To view the portfolios of each developer, see the free offshore wind map at: https://wind-analytics.esgian.com/
