bp, EnBW to invest $13.7b after new Scottish offshore wind lease win

A consortium of bp and German energy group EnBW has won the joint bid to develop a 2.9GW fixed-bottom offshore wind farm off Scotland that could result in US $13.7 billion of total investment, the companies announced on Monday.

The announcement came after both companies secured an 859km square site in the latest round of ScotWind leasing.

The Morven offshore wind farm, the second single largest project awarded by capacity in the Crown Estate Scotland auction, will be situated around 60km east of Aberdeen in the E1 lease area.

The two companies intend to make Aberdeen their global operations and maintenance centre as a result of the successful bid, bp and EnBW said in a statement. The new project is poised to create up to 120 new direct jobs, they said.

According to bp, the project is expected to power up to three million homes and support up to US $13.7 billion of investment in offshore wind development, as well as skill and opportunities in hydrogen and electric vehicle charging.

“bp has a proud 100-year history in Scotland. We want to thank Crown Estate Scotland for the opportunity to now start a new chapter, helping Scotland continue as a global energy leader for the next 100 years. We have a fantastic partner in EnBW,” bp chief executive Bernard Looney said in a statement.

According to EnBW CEO Frank Mastiaux, since the construction of the first German offshore wind farm in 2010 by EnBW, it has become a major player in offshore technology beyond German borders.

“We are therefore very pleased to be able to contribute our experience of developing and operating technically demanding offshore wind projects once again with our partner bp,” he said.