- Joint venture Ecowende to build and operate offshore wind farm in Dutch waters
- Wind farm will generate enough renewable power to decarbonise about 3% of current Dutch electricity demand
- Wind farm to have focus on ecology
According to the company’s website press release on December 16, 2022, Shell and Eneco have won the tender to build an offshore wind farm at Hollandse Kust (west) lot VI. The project will have an installed capacity of approximately 760 MW and will be located approximately 53 kilometres off the Dutch coast from the town of IJmuiden. The new wind farm will be delivered through a joint venture called Ecowende and is due to be operational in 2026. Shell and Eneco have already taken final investment decision for the wind farm.
Wael Sawan, Director of Integrated Gas, Renewables and Energy Solutions at Shell, said: "With Ecowende, we will take a huge step in growing our offshore wind portfolio while making a positive contribution to biodiversity. Through this project we can profitably accelerate the large-scale roll-out of offshore wind in the Netherlands and beyond. This fits well with Shell's Powering Progress strategy to deliver more and cleaner energy to our customers, at home, on the road and at work."
Kees-Jan Rameau, Chief Strategic Growth Officer at Eneco, said: "Together with Shell, we were at the forefront of the development of offshore wind in the Netherlands. We gained a lot of knowledge, also in the area of ecology, and reported on this. This has contributed to the further development of offshore wind in recent years. It is great that we are now moving into a new phase with Ecowende, with nature as the starting point. This is entirely in line with our ambition to live and act within the natural limits of the planet."
Ecowende aims to set a new ecological benchmark for the development and construction of wind farms in the North Sea and to enable offshore wind farms to have a net positive impact on nature in the future. The design of the wind farm takes account of the natural environment through measures such as: placing wind turbines a greater distance apart to create a corridor for birds to fly through; using innovative foundation techniques that keep the impact on marine mammals and marine life to a minimum; and placing natural reef structures on the seabed to boost biodiversity. More details on the investments, innovations and research programmes will be announced at a later stage.
Notes to Editors
About Shell
Renewables & Energy Solutions (R&ES) aims to play a central role in helping Shell transition, purposefully and profitably, to a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner. Through R&ES – which includes Renewable Generation, Emerging Energy Solutions and Energy Marketing – Shell is shaping our future business and strengthening our ability to provide more and cleaner energy, and help our customers decarbonise their own energy use.
Renewable Generation is the driving force behind the development of Shell’s integrated power value chain, developing and deploying onshore and offshore wind, solar and batteries to produce electricity, which Shell can aggregate, trade and market directly to customers. Shell’s strength as a developer, particularly in offshore wind, has been built through practical experience and expertise development, including more than 100 years in global energy markets, 50 years in deep water offshore, and 20 years in renewables development.
Globally, Shell is investing in building generation capacity. Today, Shell has over 46 GW of renewable generation potential in our portfolio (Shell equity), including 2.2 GW in operation, 3 GW under construction/contract and 40.9 GW of potential capacity in our pipeline, ranging from utility-scale solar through to innovative floating wind projects and integrated wind to hydrogen projects. For more information, visit Shell Renewables and Energy Solutions.
About Eneco
Eneco is an international energy company committed to accelerating the energy transition. Our One Planet Plan forms the basis for our ambition to be completely climate-neutral as early as 2035, in terms of both our own and our customers’ energy consumption. This requires radical electrification, phasing out natural gas in the production and supply of energy and accelerating sustainable heat. We invest in sustainable means of production, energy storage possibilities and smart energy solutions for consumers and businesses. Together we work on everyone’s sustainable energy. www.eneco.com
Cautionary note
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Forward-Looking Statements
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These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, December 15, 2022. Neither 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 announcement.
Shell’s net carbon footprint
Also, in this announcement we may refer to Shell’s “Net Carbon Footprint” or “Net Carbon Intensity”, which include Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the term Shell’s “Net Carbon Footprint” or “Net Carbon Intensity” are for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.
Shell’s net-Zero Emissions Target
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, they reflect our Scope 1, Scope 2 and Net Carbon Footprint (NCF) targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plans cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target and 2035 NCF target, as these targets are currently outside our planning period. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.
Forward Looking Non-GAAP measures
This announcement may contain certain forward-looking non-GAAP measures such as cash capital expenditure and divestments. We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking Non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile those Non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of Shell, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are calculated in a manner which is consistent with the accounting policies applied in Shell plc’s consolidated financial statements.
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