Canadian Energy company Northland Power may cancel the planned installation of two MHI Vestas V164 turbines on mono bucket foundations at the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
Technical issues with the installation of the first foundation in November caused installation to be paused and Northland said a “thorough evaluation of the cause is still ongoing” and “there is a possibility that the demonstrator project may not proceed”.
The company said in its end of year results that as a result of the uncertainty with the demo project, it had recorded a non-cash impairment loss of C$98m (€68m).
The total estimated project cost remains at approximately C$2bn, Northland said.
No further details were given.
All 31 monopile foundations and at the 269MW Deutsche Bucht were installed ahead of schedule and were generating power by the end of September last year.
Meanwhile, Northland reported net profit of almost C$452m last year, up from over C$405m in 2018.
The profit was boosted primarily by the completion of the main phase of Deutsche Bucht and higher overall production at all the company’s operating facilities, as well as non-cash fair value gains on derivative contracts partially offset by the non-cash impairment loss at Deutsche Bucht.
Adjusted earnings increased by 10% to C$985m from C$891m, while sales grew to more than C$1.65bn in 2019 from just above C$1.55bn in the previous year.
Northland said the positive performance was partially offset by wholesale market prices below the contractual floor price at the 600MW Gemini offshore wind farm off the Netherlands and unfavourable foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
The company said it expects adjusted earnings in 2020 to be in the range of C$1.1bn to C$1.2bn, boosted by a full year of operations at Deutsche Bucht and contributions from the 130MW La Lucha solar farm in Mexico, which will be completed in the second half of this year.