Shell and ScottishPower win bids to develop 5 GW of floating wind power in the UK

-Joint ventures plan to build and operate two of the world’s first large-scale floating offshore wind farms in UK waters

-Partners will use innovative technology to install turbines further from shore to catch more powerful winds as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing

-As the global economy transitions to a low-carbon future, Scotland has the opportunity to pioneer expertise to develop a new global centre of excellence for offshore wind

WEBWIRE – Monday, January 17, 2022

Shell and ScottishPower have secured joint offers for seabed rights to develop large-scale floating wind farms as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing. The partners have won two sites representing a total of 5 gigawatts (GW) off the east and north-east coast of Scotland.

The new wind farms will be delivered through two joint ventures called MarramWind and CampionWind. They bring together ScottishPower’s and Shell’s decades of experience working offshore and significant presence in Scotland, as well as their strong innovation capabilities for delivering world-class offshore energy projects.

The development, construction and operation of ScotWind projects is set to bring new skilled jobs and manufacturing opportunities and boost local supply chains.

Wael Sawan, Integrated Gas and Renewables and Energy Solutions Director at Shell, said: “Shell and ScottishPower can now look forward to generating floating wind power at significant scale in the UK to accelerate the country’s transition towards net zero. Floating wind plays to our strengths in deeper offshore projects, and we are well placed to help advance the wider take-up of this important clean energy source. Renewable electricity will play an increasingly important role in our customer-focused strategy, as we provide more low-carbon products and services customers need for their own journey to net zero.”

Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower, said: “Offshore wind is set to become the backbone of the UK’s energy mix and will do the heavy lifting as we ramp up the production of clean electricity on the journey to Net Zero. Our ScotWind projects will make the best use of our fantastic natural resources to help power the UK’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables and a better future, quicker.

“They will also deliver investment, support jobs and boost supply chains – particularly in areas like the north-east that play a key role in the energy sector – opening up immense opportunities for businesses and institutions across the country. This is a pivotal moment that will reinforce the UK’s position as the global leader in offshore wind and give a significant boost to the economy. We’re excited to have the green light to kick start our plans and look forward to working with Shell and our supply chain partners – who can get in touch now – to bring the world’s first large-scale floating windfarms to UK waters.”

Once built, MarramWind’s and CampionWind’s floating wind projects could accommodate a total generation capacity of around 3 GW and 2 GW, respectively, bringing clean energy to power the equivalent of 6 million homes in Scotland. This is more than double the number of homes in Scotland today.

The joint ventures have already started initial development planning and will continue to work at pace towards final investment decisions.

Floating offshore wind is suitable for use in deeper water zones, where fixed foundations are not feasible, making it ideal for Scottish waters. Almost 80% of Europe’s offshore wind resource is situated in waters too deep for conventional bottom-fixed wind turbines. Floating wind platforms are a proven technology to unlock these deeper waters but this will be the first time they are planned to be deployed at this scale anywhere in the world.

MarramWind and CampionWind have launched new online platforms for businesses interested in working on its ScotWind projects. Find out more at www.marramwind.co.uk and www.campionwind.co.uk, including how companies can register.

For details of the partners’ existing renewable generation capacities and links to other projects in their portfolios, please see below.

Notes

ScottishPower and Shell have 70 years’ combined experience offshore in Scotland, with over 50 years’ experience offshore in the North Sea. In addition, the partners have over 15 years of combined experience in floating offshore wind. The combined ScottishPower and Shell portfolio includes more than 2 GW of operational offshore wind, more than 11 GW of offshore wind in development and additionally more than 700 MW of floating wind in various stages of development.

ScottishPower already has considerable experience in building and operating offshore windfarms and completed its flagship East Anglia ONE windfarm in 2020. It has ambitions to develop the £6.5 billion 3.1 GW East Anglia Hub – three separate windfarms projects off the Suffolk coast. Subject to securing planning consent and Contracts for Difference for all three projects, the Hub could support up to 7,000 jobs during development, construction and operations, as well as significantly support the UK supply chain.

Shell is already developing floating wind projects in Ireland, France, Norway and South Korea. In 2021, we signed an agreement with Simply Blue Group to acquire a majority share of their Western Star venture, which aims to build a floating wind farm off the Clare coast of Ireland. We also have a similar agreement with the group to jointly develop the Emerald floating wind project off the south coast of Ireland. We have acquired EOLFI, a French renewable energy developer specialising in floating wind power. Shell is a major shareholder in TetraSpar (Shell interest 46.2%), which is developing an innovative floating wind demonstration project off the coast of Norway. We are also developing a project with CoensHexicon that could bring 1.4 GW of floating wind power to South Korea. Find out more about Shell’s wind power business in the UK here.

ScottishPower and Shell support the UK to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement and the ambitious targets of Scotland and the UK for net zero emissions by 2045 and 2050 respectively.

ScottishPower

ScottishPower is part of the Iberdrola Group, a global energy leader, the number-one producer of wind power. Responsible for progressing Iberdrola’s renewable energy projects in the UK, ScottishPower also manages the development, construction and operation of offshore windfarms throughout the world and currently has over 40 operational windfarm sites generating more than 2.5 GW of renewable energy.

ScottishPower is a Principal Partner for the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference. It is developing an energy model that will play a significant role towards reaching the UK’s world-leading climate change targets and is investing a total of £10 billion between 2020-2025 in the clean energy generation and networks infrastructure needed to help the UK decarbonise and reach Net Zero emissions.

Iberdrola is a world leader in the development of offshore wind energy, with an operational capacity portfolio and early-stage developments of approximately 35 GW in the UK, USA, Germany, France, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Brazil. Focused on countries with ambitious targets, the company expects to have 18GW of offshore wind power in operation by 2030.

In Europe, Iberdrola is at the forefront of the offshore wind market with 1,300 MW of operational capacity in Germany (Wikinger) and the UK (East Anglia ONE and West of Duddon Sands) and almost 1,000MW coming soon in Germany (Baltic Eagle) and France (St. Brieuc). In the USA, Iberdrola is the North American market leader in offshore wind, with 4,900 MW of projects in its portfolio. This includes the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the country – the 800 MW Vineyard Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts.

Having already invested $120 billion over the past twenty years, Iberdrola has recently launched a record investment plan of 150 billion euros for the next decade, nearly 75 billion by 2025. These plans will enable the company to triple its renewable capacity to 95,000 MW and double its grid assets, supporting the ongoing energy transition in the world’s major economies. www.scottishpower.com

Shell

Shell has a long history in Scotland and today employs around 1,000 people in the north-east of Scotland. In 2018, an analysis suggested that Shell’s activity in Scotland created around 11,700 full-time equivalent jobs in the wider Scottish economy and generated £775 million gross value added. Through investing in the local supply chain Shell has also supported more than 3,000 jobs in the Scottish services sector.

Today Shell has deployed or is developing more than 6 GW of wind power generation capacity across North America, Europe, the UK and Asia. 

Globally, Shell is building an integrated power business that will provide customers with low-carbon and renewable energy solutions. Shell Renewables and Energy Solutions spans trading, generation and supply. We offer integrated energy solutions including hydrogen, solar, wind and electric vehicle charging at scale, while buying nature-based carbon credits and using technology to capture emissions from hard-to-abate sectors of the energy system.

Shell’s target is to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society. For more information on our net-zero emissions customer-first strategy visit here.

—–

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release “Shell”, “Shell Group” and “Group” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ‘‘Subsidiaries’’, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this release refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as “joint ventures” and “joint operations”, respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as “associates”. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This release contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”, “ambition”, ‘‘anticipate’’, ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘expect’’, ‘‘goals’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, “milestones”, ‘‘objectives’’, ‘‘outlook’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘probably’’, ‘‘project’’, ‘‘risks’’, “schedule”, ‘‘seek’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘target’’, ‘‘will’’ and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, judicial, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak; and (n) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, 17 January 2022. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this release.

The contents of websites referred to in this release do not form part of this release.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

Shell’s operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next ten years. Accordingly, Shell’s operating plans, outlooks, budgets and pricing assumptions do not reflect our net-zero emissions target. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans, outlooks, budgets and pricing assumptions to reflect this movement.