bp has submitted bids for two offshore wind leases in the Netherlands, which have a combined capacity of 1.4GW.
bp has entered a tender for the rights to develop the Hollandse Kust (west) Wind Farm Zone (HKW) sites VI and VII. HKW is about 53 kilometers off the country’s west coast and contains two wind farm sites totaling 176 square kilometers.
Bids for Site VI will be evaluated based on eco-innovation criteria, with bp proposing innovative solutions to improve the Dutch North Sea ecosystem. The bid includes an unprecedented level of innovation, with nearly €75 million committed to making a positive impact on the marine habitat, supporting advanced ecosystem data analysis, and establishing a new North Sea Offshore Wind Ecological Innovation Hub in the Netherlands to enable further research and collaboration.
Bids for Site VII will be evaluated based on system integration criteria, and bp’s bid focuses on integrating offshore wind power generation with new, flexible demand in the Rotterdam region.
Investments
The bid, if accepted, proposes to integrate the wind farms with 500MW electrolysis to produce 50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year to meet bp’s Rotterdam refinery demand and support 10,000 barrels per day of sustainable aviation fuel production.
Furthermore, the bid proposes to integrate a new electric-powered boiler and super heater for BP’s Rotterdam refinery, as well as a utility scale battery to support the asset integration, and newly-developed flexible electric vehicle charging stations with integrated batteries and low carbon multi-energy logistics hubs, complemented by demand shifting solutions.
These investments include the use of innovative digital grid optimization and stabilization solutions to match power demand to HKW wind power output. bp will create a skills and entrepreneurship incubator to help the local workforce develop the skills needed in these new industries. In addition to the offshore wind investment, bp expects to invest up to €2 billion in the decarbonization of flexible demand.
Image source: bp
