bp has announced submission of bids for two offshore wind leases in the Netherlands that together have the potential for generating capacity of 1.4GW. The bids underpin extensive and transformational plans for a series of further integrated clean energy investments by bp in the Netherlands, applying the breadth of its businesses and experience to support the decarbonisation goals of Rotterdam region and the country more widely.

bp has bid in the tender process for rights to develop the Hollandse Kust (west) Wind Farm Zone (HKW) sites VI and VII. HKW is located approximately 53 kilometres off the country’s west coast and contains two wind farm sites, with a total area of 176 square kilometres.

Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, bp’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy, said: “Delivering a net zero future demands more than just generating renewable power offshore – we need to create an integrated energy system with renewables at its centre. We plan on doing just that in the Netherlands.

“We will apply bp’s integrated energy company strategy to integrate green energy supply and demand across the energy system. This includes using offshore wind power to electrify industry and mobility. And also using renewable power to produce green hydrogen, to help to decarbonize hard-to-electrify sectors such as aviation, refining and heavy-duty mobility. These clean energy developments support the Netherlands’ ambitious emissions reduction aims.

“In addition, we will deploy innovative technology in support of an unprecedented scale and scope of monitoring and analysis to create a step change in collaborative marine ecology research in line with our aim to have a positive impact on the North Sea’s ecology.”

Bids for Site VI will be evaluated on eco-innovation criteria, where bp proposes creating innovative solutions to enhance the Dutch North Sea ecosystem. The bid includes an unprecedented scale of innovation with nearly €75 million of committed spend to create a positive impact on the marine habitat, supporting advanced ecosystem data analysis and in establishing a new Netherlands’ North Sea Offshore Wind Ecological Innovation Hub to enable further research and collaboration.

Bids for Site VII will be evaluated on systems integration criteria, and bp’s bid focuses on coupling offshore wind power generation with new, flexible demand with focus on the Rotterdam region. Subject to award, the bid proposes to integrate the wind farms with:

• 500MW electrolysis to produce ~50,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen to meet bp’s Rotterdam refinery demand and support 10,000 barrels a day production of sustainable aviation fuel,
• a new electric powered boiler and super heater for bp‘s Rotterdam refinery, and utility scale battery to support the integration of the assets, and
• newly-developed flexible electric vehicle charging stations with integrated batteries and low carbon multi-energy logistics hubs, complemented by demand shifting solutions.

These investments include the application of additional innovative digital grid optimisation and stabilisation solutions to match the demand for power to the HKW wind power output. bp will develop a skills and entrepreneurship incubator to support the development of the local workforce to meet the demand for skills in these new industries. In total bp anticipates investments of up to €2 billion into the decarbonization of flexible demand in addition to the offshore wind investment.