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OSLO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Vattenfall will focus on offshore
wind power developments in Europe as the region seeks to boost
green investments, instead of expanding globally, the Swedish
utility said on Wednesday.
State-controlled Vattenfall said the European Union's plans
to decarbonise its economy by increasing offshore wind power
capacity provided enough opportunities for the Nordic region's
largest utility.
"So, there is no need to go outside of Europe," Gunnar
Groebler, Vattenfall's head of wind power, told investors during
the online presentation of the company's strategy update.
While Vattenfall remains focused on its European home
markets, others such as Denmark's Orsted have
branched out to Asia or are investigating opportunities in the
United States.
Groebler said Vattenfall was confident it would continue to
secure projects in a competitive market, with offshore wind
power also attracting interest from major oil firms, such as
Equinor and BP.
"Even if there is a lot of capital in the market right now,
you need to know where you're able to make money long term,"
Vattenfall's Chief Financial Officer and incoming Chief
Executive Anna Borg said.
Vattenfall operates 2.1 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind
capacity and plans to build a further 6.4 GW, including the 1.5
GW Dutch Hollandse Kust South wind farm which will be built by
2023 without subsidies.
Groebler said the company was currently looking to sign
long-term power purchase agreements and potentially to sell some
stakes in the Dutch farm to reduce the risk.
Vattenfall said the EU's Green Deal economic programme meant
the region would need to boost its offshore wind capacity to 450
GW by 2050 from 22-24 GW today.
(Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Nerijus Adomaitis and Mark
Potter)
