Oil engineer Aker Solutions unveils offshore wind blueprint

Engineering firm Aker Solutions intends to develop wind farms in the waters off South Korea, the US, Norway and Scotland through its planned offshore wind spin-off.

It is also monitoring the Japanese, French, Italian and Vietnamese offshore wind markets for future development opportunities, according to a presentation for investors.

Earlier this month, the Norwegian firm announced plans to spin off its offshore wind and carbon capture and storage businesses as two new, separate entities. 

It also intends to merge with its subsidiary Kvaerner to form a new oil and gas engineering company.

Shareholders are due to vote on the spin-offs at an extraordinary general meeting on 14 August. 

Development progress

Aker Solutions holds a 30.6% stake in project development company KF Wind – which also includes Ocean Winds and WindPower Korea – that has secured three potential development sites capable of supporting about 1.5GW of offshore wind capacity. 

It believes the initial 500MW Ulsan – KFWind Ulsan – KFWind (500MW) Offshoreoff Ulsan, South Korea, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details project could be online by the end of 2026, according to the investor presentation.

The Norwegian engineering firm is also working with Ocean Winds – the offshore wind joint venture of EDP Renewables and Engie –  and floating foundation firm Principle Power, in which it holds a 25% stake, on the planned 150MW Redwood Coast Redwood Coast (150MW) Offshoreoff Humboldt County, California, USA, North America Click to see full details floating project off the coast of California, which could be online by the end of 2025. 

It is seeking a strategic partner to develop two wind farms off the south-west coast of Norway – in areas earmarked for development by the Norwegian government earlier this year – with a combined capacity of 1.7GW and planned commissioning date of Q4 2026.

Aker Solutions will also bid alongside an unspecified “reputable utility company” in the forthcoming ScotWind lease tender. It hopes to play a part in developing a 500MW wind farm off the coast of Scotland, which it aims to commissiong by 2030.

The company also listed Japan, France, Italy and Vietnam as target markets for offshore wind development, but did not provide any capacity targets for these countries.

It hopes to cut the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of its floating offshore wind projects to €50/MWh by 2030 – down from about €150/MWh today. Aker Solutions hopes to leverage larger, more efficient turbines, economies of scale, more efficient and digitally aided operations and maintenance models, according to its presentation.