Ingka Investments has joined UtsiraVIND, a dynamic offshore wind consortium committed to advancing Norwegian renewable energy.
The UtsiraVIND Consortium was first established as a partnership between Odfjell Oceanwind, a market-leading Norwegian provider of floating offshore wind technologies, and Source Galileo, a fast-growing European renewable energy platform, concentrating on offshore wind development. Today, the consortium is further strengthened as two new partners join; Kansai, one of the largest Japanese utility companies and global investor in renewable energy, and Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer. The expanded consortium will be bidding into the Utsira Nord floating offshore wind tender process in September 2023.
Driven by the shared vision of a greener energy future, the consortium brings together proprietary technology in floating structures, electrical engineering, financial strength, and extensive offshore wind experience.
The consortium will now seek to progress their bid in the upcoming Utsira tender process to develop, build, and operate a floating wind park on Utsira Nord using Odfjell Oceanwind’s proprietary solutions. The Utsira Nord seabed lies 32 km offshore in the North Sea where floating wind turbines in water depths of 180 – 280 m are foreseen to be developed in the first round for a total capacity of 1.5 GW.
“This partnership is a further step to expand our investment activities to address climate footprint reduction well beyond our retail consumption, and into the IKEA value chain. We are looking forward to working closely with our Utsira partners to make a significant contribution to the Norwegian Government’s renewable energy goals,” said Frederik de Jong, Head of Renewable Energy at Ingka Investments.
Entering a critical decade for climate action, Ingka Investments has committed to expanding its investments in renewable energy to €6.5 billion as the next step towards 100% renewable energy across the value chain. Since 2009, Ingka Investments has invested over €3 billion into renewable energy projects in wind and solar power, enabling the group to generate more renewable energy than it consumes across its global operations. The aim is to produce 15 TWh and support the group’s climate footprint reduction with 6 million t of carbon dioxide compared to the baseline in its fiscal year 2016.
Offshore wind investments can provide a significant contribution to Ingka Group’s ambition to reduce its climate footprint. This is Ingka Investments’ fourth investment in offshore wind and first participation in an offshore wind public tender process.
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