(Bloomberg) — Two Scandinavian wind-power developers will
merge their 3.2 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) investment pipeline
of developments across Finland, Norway and Sweden to cut costs.
Closely held Havgul Clean Energy AS of Norway and Triventus
Wind Power AB of Sweden will combine to form a company with 1.6
gigawatts of project plans, they said in an e-mailed statement.
Havgul Nordic AS, as the business will be called, plans 15
projects, with seven totaling 504 megawatts in Sweden, five with
865 megawatts in Norway and three in Finland. The projects range
from small sites that don’t yet have authorities’ approval to
large ones with consent including an offshore wind farm.
“We’re aiming to establish one of the lowest cost and
highest return wind developers in the Nordic region,” Chief
Executive Officer Harald Dirdal said. “The Norwegian and
Swedish governments have recently increased their renewable
energy targets and we expect to be well positioned to exploit
this highly positive regulatory driver in the years ahead.”
Norway and Sweden since 2012 have operated a joint system
that issues tradable certificates to power companies for each
megawatt-hour of renewable energy they produce. Suppliers and
consumers must buy certificates to match power they provide or
use. On March 13 the two countries agreed to raise a 2020 clean-energy target by 2 terawatt hours, enough to power about 80,000
Swedish homes a year.
Triventus has developed 124 megawatts of projects that it
has sold on for construction, while Havgul’s, including a 350-megawatt offshore farm, are still in the pipeline.
Low Risks
Scandinavia has attracted a lot of interest from investors
as the countries offer low risks along with their low returns,
David Hostert, a European wind-energy analyst for Bloomberg New
Energy Finance, said by e-mail. Last year saw almost 1 gigawatt
of development assets change hands, signaling the trend will
continue, he said.
“However, these are very different markets,” Hostert
said. “Sweden, for example, is not short on permitted projects,
but market conditions are tough. With low wholesale prices and
very low Renewable Electricity Certificate prices, only the most
competitive projects will stand a chance.”
In Finland, the challenges are in getting permission for
projects and the cost of equipment, though a larger company may
be able to strike better deals, the analyst said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Tony Barrett, Randall Hackley