Vattenfall Stops Developing Major Wind Farm Offshore UK, Will Review Entire 4.2 GW Zone

Wind Farm Update

July 20, 2023, by Adnan Durakovic

Vattenfall has stopped the development of the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind power project in the UK and will review the way forward for the entire 4.2 GW Norfolk Zone, the Swedish energy company revealed in its interim report.

Final blade being installed at Hollandse Kust Zuid. Source: Vattenfall/Matthias Ibeler

The developer said that the decision to stop the project was made due to ”challenging market conditions”, adding that ”financial frameworks have not adapted to reflect the current market conditions” so far.

The halt to the development of Norfolk Boreas will have a negative impact on earnings of SEK 5.5 billion (EUR 477.4 million), Vattenfall said.

”Higher inflation and capital costs are affecting the entire energy sector, but the geopolitical situation has made offshore wind and its supply chain particularly vulnerable. Overall, we see cost increases up to 40%,” Vattenfall said.

”We have decided to stop the development of Norfolk Boreas in its current form and not take an investment decision now due to mentioned factors, which triggers the impairment. We will examine the best way forward for the entire Norfolk Zone, which in addition to Boreas also includes the Vanguard East and West projects.”

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The Norfolk Zone comprises the Norfolk Vanguard and the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farms.

Located 72 kilometres off the Norfolk coast in southeast Britain, the 1.4 GW Norfolk Boreas is the first phase of the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone for which Vattenfall secured a Contract for Difference in July 2022.

Construction on the project was initially scheduled to begin this year and the wind farm was expected to produce its first power in 2027.

Norfolk Vanguard is located some 47 kilometres from the Norfolk coast. The wind farm was awarded a Development Consent Order (DCO) in February 2022.

Vattenfall has already selected Tier 1 contractors for the Norfolk Zone, including Siemens Gamesa for the delivery of the wind turbines, Havfram for the installation of the turbines, Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions for the grid infrastructure, DEME and LS Cable & Systems for the delivery and installation of the export cables, and Hellenic Cables for the inter-array cables.