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OSLO, June 17 (Reuters) - Oil major Shell teamed up
with Norwegian utilities BKK and Lyse to bid in the Nordic
country's first offshore wind tender expected next year, the
companies said on Thursday.
Shell has been active in oil and gas extraction on the
Norwegian continental shelf for several decades, and like many
of its peers sees offshore wind as a cross-over technology in a
bid to become carbon neutral in its operations.
"We see Norway as interesting both in the perspective of
supplying enough renewable energy to Europa and to develop
floating offshore wind solutions that can become commercially
viable," said Hessel de Jong, head of Shell's European offshore
wind business.
The partners said they were planning to bid to build both
floating and bottom-fixed wind power turbines on the Norwegian
continental shelf.
Norway has designated two North Sea areas - Utsira Nord and
Soerlige Nordsjoe II - to build a total of 4.5 gigawatt (GW) of
offshore wind power capacity.
BKK, based in Bergen, and Lyse,
headquartered in Norway's oil capital Stavanger, are among
Norway's biggest hydropower producers and operators of local
power grids.
Norway's offshore wind plans have attracted a lot of
interest from domestic and foreign energy firms, including
Equinor, Danish Orsted and BP.
(Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing
by Jonathan Oatis)
