Vattenfall keeps focus on European growth

“We are fully European. We are not looking globally.”

Catrin Jung, head of the offshore wind business unit at Vattenfall, is explaining why the Swedish utility is not following its rivals into markets outside Europe. The firm does not have a global network of offices or customers like many of its offshore rivals, so it plans to maintain its focus on where it is strongest.

Vattenfall has demonstrated this strength in Europe over the last fortnight by reaching major milestones on projects in Denmark and the Netherlands. We spoke to Jung about the projects and to get her insights into the firm’s plans.

On Monday, Vattenfall inaugurated its 72-turbine Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. This 604MW scheme is the largest operational offshore wind farm in both Denmark and the wider Scandinavia region, as well as the largest working wind farm in the Vattenfall portfolio.

The Swedish utility’s other large wind projects include the 407MW Horns Rev 3 offshore and the 353MW Blakliden/Fabodberget onshore.

Kriegers Flak is set to stay the company’s largest wind farm until 2023. This month, Vattenfall confirmed it has concluded the sale of a 49.5% stake in the 1.5GW Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind project, in waters off the coast of the Netherlands, to BASF.

The firms revealed the deal in June and construction is underway, with first turbines to be commissioned in spring 2022 ahead of full commissioning due by summer 2023.

Focused diversification

Kriegers Flak and Hollandse Kust Zuid are innovative in different ways.

In July 2018, Kriegers Flak was the first offshore wind project to secure a corporate power purchase agreement – with Novo Nordisk and Novozymes – while Hollandse Kust Zuid is set to be the first ‘fully merchant’ offshore wind farm, which means that it receives no subsidies or other revenue stabilisation from government. BASF is set to use the power from the project to support its chemical production sites in Europe.

This is testament to how far offshore wind has come over the last three years to gain recognition and support from energy buyers in the corporate sector.

“It is nice to see it now all coming together with the mature technology and actually being able to deliver very healthy projects,” says Jung.

She adds that Covid-19 has not delayed completion at Kriegers Flak or the construction schedule for Hollandse Kust Zuid, despite the disruption to day-to-day operations – the “corona gymnastics” – caused by pandemic protocols. The appetite of corporates to buy wind power and stakes in projects has also held up despite the pandemic.

Vattenfall plans to add to its offshore portfolio by diversifying across Europe.

“We are awaiting the tender rules for the next UK CfD round, where we have the Norfolk projects [Boreas and Vanguard] so we would definitely like to take part. We are pre-qualified for the next French fixed-bottom round; we are also pre-qualified for Thor in Denmark; we have last entry rights in Germany in 2022 and 2024; and we have a couple of Swedish projects in the pipeline.”

The company is also bidding in the ongoing ScotWind tender in Scotland in a 50:50 tie-up with Fred Olsen Renewables. That would be a floating project. Results from the ScotWind tender are due to be released in November.

Jung says it makes more sense to Vattenfall to focus on Europe, rather than North America or the Asia-Pacific markets.

“We are not like the oil majors already having offices all over the place. We decided we would rather focus… and work closer with industry off-takers, as we do at Hollandse Kust Zuid with BASF. We have all of our customers in Europe, so we see a lot of opportunities in the European space rather than going further out,” she explains.

Jung says Vattenfall is also watching the developments in technology such as floating foundations and green hydrogen, but that it would rather partner on projects using those technologies than invest in its own technological deep dives. In a competitive global market, it plans to focus on its strengths.