Statoil/Equinor plans $12 billion in renewable energy projects

Norway’s oil and gas giant, Statoil, which has been renamed Equinor, has made major investments in renewable energy technologies and plans for $12 billion more in the next twelve years.

Elin A. Isaksen, press spokesperson, Statoil ASA told AJOT, “Our ambition is to invest around NOK 100 billion (US 12 billion) in new renewable energy towards 2030. There will be no lack of willingness to invest. The challenge is to find good and profitable industrial projects.” 

“The global energy markets are facing major changes. Statoil believes this to be an opportunity. We aim to help drive the important changes the world needs: more climate-efficient oil and gas production and strong growth in profitable renewable energy. ”

As a result, “In Statoil, the process of establishing renewables as an important and profitable part of our business is well underway. We started with offshore wind. Our projects provide reasonable returns for us and are on track to deliver renewable power to more than one million households in Europe.” 

She said a new floating wind farm off the coast of Scotland will soon become operational: “This autumn our first floating wind farm will come on stream offshore Scotland. This has generated positive media coverage across the world, because of its potential to unlock opportunities in areas too deep for bottom-fixed wind turbines. Again, we are global leaders, with the technology being derived from our experience from floating oil installations, and many of the deliveries are from the Norwegian supplier industry.”

Major Renewable Energy Investments Are:

Offshore Wind Projects: Hywind, Scotland

Statoil/Equinor is building up a presence in offshore wind farms. According to the company’s website: “We are involved in a number of significant wind projects worldwide, including four in the UK, one in Germany, and one in the US. Three of our UK wind farms employ conventional, bottom-fixed turbines, while Hywind Scotland employs floating wind turbines.

The company said that “In October 2017, Hywind Scotland started to deliver power to the Scottish electricity grid. The Hywind pilot park lies offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and marks an important step forward for offshore wind technology, potentially opening attractive new markets for renewable energy production worldwide. Equinor has installed a floating wind farm consisting of five turbines at Buchan Deep, 25 km offshore Peterhead, harnessing Scottish wind resources to provide renewable energy to the mainland. With 30 MW installed capacity, the wind farm will be able to power the equivalent of around 20,000 households.”

Marine Battery Investment in Corvus Energy

In 2015, it was announced that Statoil had invested in Vancouver, Canada-based Corvus Energy, a leading battery supplier for the maritime industry: “Corvus Energy has announced an investment from Statoil Technology Invest for the development of its lithium ion energy storage systems (ESS) for the offshore oil and gas industry….‘We are very pleased to invest in Corvus Energy, a recognized leader in large-scale energy storage systems for marine applications. Its products and unparalleled expertise give them a competitive advantage for expanding into the offshore sector,’ said Richard Erskine, managing director of Statoil. He added: ‘We see initial applications in vessels, with long term potential to apply the same technology to rigs and platforms, which will contribute to Statoil’s ambition to reduce CO2 emissions.’

Renewable Energy Investment Firm

Renewable products and companies are being financed by a new investment firm: “Equinor Energy Ventures is one of the world’s largest corporate venture funds dedicated to investing in attractive and ambitious growth companies in renewable energy.”

Established in 2016, the investment firm reflects: “the company’s aspirations to gradually complement its oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy and low-carbon solutions.”

It was capitalized with US $200 million and projects:

• Investing US$ 1-20 million per company

• Investing over a period of 4-7 years

Carbon Capture and Storage 

The company plays a leading role in carbon capture: “We are a world leader in carbon capture and storage (CCS). CCS is about removing carbon from gases and storing it safely to prevent it from contributing to climate change….. We see CCS as the leading technology for de-carbonizing fossil fuels and an important long-term measure for reducing CO2 emissions globally. CCS also has significant economic advantages that include extending current operations, carbon reuse in fuel, chemical technologies and export opportunities. Having worked on this pioneering technology since the 1990s, we have played an important role in getting CCS to where it is today. We continue to work towards the goal of commercial CCS and evaluate opportunities to reduce our own CO2 emissions and explore profitable Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) possibilities.”