After establishing a consortium to develop offshore wind projects in Norway in 2021, TotalEnergies, Iberdrola, and Norsk Havvind have now officially announced the consortium’s name: Skjoldblad.
The three companies joined forces in November 2021 with a goal to respond to the Norwegian 4.5 GW Utsira Nord and Sørlige Nordsjø II tenders for the development of floating and bottom-fixed wind projects.
The partners said they would make use of technical, commercial and project management experience from the owners’ significant portfolio of offshore wind projects, their financial strength, and their Norwegian and international talent.
The Skjoldblad consortium will also have a significant focus on strengthening local industrial expertise and developing Norwegian supply chains and creating new, local jobs, according to the companies.
The joint company’s name is inspired by the water naval plant (Skjoldblad in Norwegian), which grows in the harsh western Norwegian coastal environment, according to a press release from ScottishPower Renewables, Iberdrola’s subsidiary.
“The plant is considered to be near threatened. It is a plant that can withstand sea spray, and, on a stem, the leaves grow together in a community. The plant represents what we at Skjoldblad stand for: strength, growth and interaction, which are central factors in the work of building a strong offshore wind industry in Norway”.
Norway will auction off the 3 GW of bottom-fixed offshore wind capacity at the Sørlige Nordsjø II zone in two 1.5 GW phases, with the first 1.5 GW of capacity expected to be put out to tender during this year.
The project/s selected in this phase will not be inter-connected to the grids of other countries and will deliver all of the generated electricity to the Norwegian grid. The 1.5 GW of capacity at the Sørlige Nordsjø II zone awarded in the second auction will have the option to export the generated electricity outside Norway.
Norway is also preparing to award 1.5 GW of floating wind capacity at the Utsira Nord area. The tender for this area will be based on qualitative criteria that entail facilitating innovation and technology development.