Norway's Statoil Reshapes Control of Giant Wind Farm off the British Coast

A swap arrangement for parts of the Dogger Bank wind farm off the British coast puts the power in the hands of their respective owners, a consortium said.

Statoil signed a swap agreement with British energy company SSE and German energy company Innogy for interests in the Dogger Bank wind park. Innogy under the arrangement takes a 100 percent stake in the developments Teesside wind farms at Dogger Bank, while Statoil and SSE will share control over the Creyke wind farms.

"Dogger Bank represents a unique opportunity for the U.K. to develop secure, sustainable and cost-competitive energy from its world-class wind resource and the asset constitutes a very important element in Statoil's strategy to gradually complement our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions," Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil's executive vice president for new energy solutions, said in a statement.

The swap means the parties in charge of Dogger Bank can move their respective projects, Teesside and Creyke, toward a final investment decision. A consortium for the broader project, Forewind, said it would no longer be involved with the projects after the arrangement.

"The consortium successfully delivered on its objective to achieve the consents and now that the projects have been allocated, the respective owners will determine how the four projects, each a significant development in its own right, will be taken forward," Forewind said in a statement.

Statoil in a regular review of the energy sector outlined a goal to steer up to 20 percent of its annual investments toward renewable energy by 2030, with the aim being to develop a low-carbon footprint while staying competitive in the market.

Dogger Bank is the largest development of its kind in the world, with its target installed capacity of 4.8 gigawatts enough to meet the potential demand of 5 million average British households. Statoil last year signed a letter of intent with state-owned renewable energy company Statkraft to take over as the operator of the Sheringham Shoal wind farm off the British coast.