Simply Blue Group eyes 4.75GW Swedish floating offshore wind

Irish floating wind specialist Simply Blue Group has announced plans to develop two wind farms in Swedish waters. 

The two floating wind projects are 2000MW Skidbladner Skidbladner (2000MW) Offshoreoff Stockholm, Sweden, Europe Click to see full details a project 100km south-east of Stockholm in the south-east of the country, and 2750MW Herkules Herkules (2750MW) Offshoreoff Gotland, Sweden, Europe Click to see full details a project 60km south-east of the Island of Gotland south-east  off the mainland.

They are within the three zones recently announced by the Swedish government as targets for wind farm development, which are to the north-east (Gulf of Bothnia), south-east (Baltic Sea) and west (North Sea) of the country. Sweden wants to generate 20-30TWh per year from wind farms in these areas. However it has plans for further expansion with an ultimate aim of an offshore wind fleet that would produce 120TWh annually – close to its current demand of around 140TWh (although demand is expected to grow). It plans to identify further development areas by the end of 2024.

Currently, Simply Blue Group is the only investor in the wind farms, but it said it will be working with local green energy consultancy Wind Sweden on the development.

Simply Blue Group’s existing 5GW pipeline is planned off Ireland and the UK. The Swedish projects could be its first in other European waters, although the company could not give any indication of the likely development timetable.  

Elsewhere in Europe the group recently announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Spanish companies Proes Consultores  and FF New Energy Venture, which it said would position Simply Blue Group as a key player in European markets. 

In January the company joined forces with TotalEnergies to pursue opportunities in the US 35GW offshore wind market. 

Simply Blue Group joins a growing list of developers to announce plans for offshore wind farms in Swedish waters after the government identified development zones.

OX2 has announced plans for a 1.8GW project off Skåne and a 5.5GW project off Gotland, while Wpd and Lhyfe have detailed plans to use approximately 1GW of offshore wind capacity off Söderhamn to produce green hydrogen.