BP has submitted bids for two offshore wind leases in the Netherlands that together have the potential for generating capacity of 1400MW.
The bids have been submitted in the tender process for rights to develop the Hollandse Kust West (HKW) Wind Farm Zone sites numbered 6 and 7.
HKW is located approximately 53 km off the country’s west coast and contains two wind farm sites, with a total area of 176 square km.
The bids underpin “extensive and transformational plans” for a series of further integrated clean energy investments by BP in the Netherlands, the oil and gas company stated.
BP executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath said: “Delivering a net zero future demands more than just generating renewable power offshore – we need to create an integrated energy system with renewables at its centre.
“We plan on doing just that in the Netherlands.
“We will apply BP’s integrated energy company strategy to integrate green energy supply and demand across the energy system.”
Bids for HKW site 6 will be evaluated on eco-innovation criteria, where BP proposes creating innovative solutions to enhance the Dutch North Sea ecosystem.
The bid includes nearly €75m of committed spend to create a positive impact on the marine habitat, supporting advanced ecosystem data analysis and in establishing a new Netherlands’ North Sea Offshore Wind Ecological Innovation Hub to enable further research and colboration.
Bids for HKW site 7 will be evaluated on systems integration criteria, and BP’s bid focuses on coupling offshore wind power generation with new, flexible demand with focus on the Rotterdam region.
Subject to award, the bid proposes to integrate the wind farms with 500MW electrolysis to produce 50,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen to meet bp’s Rotterdam refinery demand and support 10,000 barrels a day production of sustainable aviation fuel,
It also proposes a new electric powered boiler and super heater for BP‘s Rotterdam refinery, and utility scale battery to support the integration of the assets, as well as flexible electric vehicle charging stations with integrated batteries and low carbon multi-energy logistics hubs, complemented by demand shifting solutions.
These investments include the application of additional digital grid optimisation and stabilisation solutions to match the demand for power to the HKW wind power output.
BP will develop a skills and entrepreneurship incubator to support the development of the local workforce to meet the demand for skills in these new industries.
In total bp anticipates investments of up to €2bn into the decarbonisation of flexible demand in addition to the offshore wind investment.