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Ørsted and ATP announce energy island bid

4C Offshore | James Bernthal-Hooker
By: James Bernthal-Hooker 22/04/2021 Ørsted
Denmark’s largest pension company and processing business, ATP, has joined forces with energy giant Ørsted to bid in the upcoming tender for the Danish North Sea energy island. Located 80km from the coast of Denmark, the artificial island will act as a transmission centre for multiple offshore wind farms.

Ørsted announced the news, stating that it and ATP were positioned “to make a significant contribution to Denmark’s ambitious green transition, its build-out of energy infrastructure, and [to] shape the future build-out of large-scale offshore wind.” The partnership represents a marriage of industrial and financial expertise.




The two companies have strong portfolios. Ørsted has constructed more than 25 offshore wind farms and 17 offshore transmission systems globally, and has developed a portfolio of Power-to-X projects around the North Sea. The companies are planning to “examine the optimal integration of Power-to-X with the energy island” and with future energy installations in the area.


“For the past 30 years, Ørsted has been the front runner in offshore wind development,” said Mads Nipper, CEO of Ørsted. “We look forward to working with ATP and doing our part to realise this groundbreaking infrastructure project with the best technological solutions at the lowest cost and risk to the benefit of the Danish society."

ATP, with over 5.3 million members and funds totalling DKK 960 billion, is one of the largest pension companies in Europe. Its role in the partnership includes “a strong societal focus to benefit all Danes”. ATP’s CEO, Bo Foged, described the energy island as “a very interesting investment case”, which “can contribute to good and stable pensions and develop Danish industrial positions of strength”.


The energy island (Energiø Nordsøen) is expected to have a total area of 120-460 km2, with capacity expanding from 3 to 10 GW in the long term. The total investment for the island, infrastructure, and 10 GW of offshore wind will be DKK 210 billion. Depending on local conditions, the structure could be constructed as a sand island, steel platforms, or a large concrete container that is lowered into place and filled with stone material.


The number of turbines connecting to the island will depend on the wind farm developers selected through competitive tender, but there may be ~200 turbines in the first 3 GW phase and 650 for the total 10 GW.

Another consortium, VindØ, comprised of of investors PensionDanmark, FRA, and Andel, and financial services group Nykredit, has unveiled its own vision for Denmark’s first energy island. In April, it released a “visualization” from engineering consultancy COWI, showing how its take on the island might look (see video, below).


To view projects on 4C Offshore's interactive map, click here. For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide, click here.

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