Shell Ponders Ditching Norway’s Wind Farm Fiesta: Too Pricey, Too Tricky, Too Shell

Posted by John Donovan: 15 Feb 24

Gather round, folks, for a tale of woe and intrigue, starring none other than Shell, the planet’s darling polluter and profiteer extraordinaire. In a shocking twist no one saw coming (cue eye roll), Shell might just bail on Norway’s grand plan for its first commercial offshore wind farm. Why? Because, in a plot twist as predictable as a soap opera, the numbers just don’t dazzle them.

Here’s the skinny: Shell, alongside a dynamic duo of local Norwegian utility sidekicks, fancied themselves green warriors by eyeing up the Soerlige Nordsjoe II spot in the bracing North Sea. They dreamt of erecting Norway’s pioneering bottom-fixed offshore wind farm. But alas, Marianne Olsnes, Shell’s Norway country manager and apparent bearer of bad news, dropped a bombshell at an Oslo energy conference. The business case was, in her words, “not looking great.”

“We might not bid,” Olsnes declared, tossing uncertainty into the wind like confetti. The crowd gasped (or maybe they didn’t, but let’s dramatize). Despite the allure of the tender, with its siren song of 1.5 gigawatts of wind power glory and a subsidy treasure chest of 23 billion Norwegian crowns ($2.17 billion), Shell is playing hard to get.

Why the cold feet, you ask? Well, the tender conditions were “very challenging,” Olsnes whispered to Reuters, as if revealing a state secret. Picture this: energy companies, like some kind of wind farm MacGyvers, were expected to develop bits usually left to grid operators. And, horror of horrors, the power was to be sold to a market as enthusiastic about high-cost electricity as cats are about baths.

“But of course, we are not done with the pre-qualification, so we don’t even know whether we are still in the game,” Olsnes added, keeping us all on the edge of our seats. The suspense is unbearable.

Despite the global offshore wind industry wrestling with the Herculean challenges of inflation, interest rate hikes, and supply chain shenanigans, Olsnes hinted Shell might still flirt with a planned floating wind tender or future auctions. Because, as we all know, Shell loves to keep us guessing.

So, as this saga unfolds, let’s pop the popcorn and watch as Shell, that ever-thrifty, environment-loving corporate giant, decides whether saving the planet is worth their dime and time. Will they? Won’t they? Stay tuned for the next episode of “As the Wind Turbine Turns.”

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