Ørsted and pension giant to bid for North Sea energy island

Ørsted and ATP plan to use their industrial and financial capabilities to bid to build a hub off Denmark to connect North Sea farms

What the planned North Sea energy island could look like (pic credit: Danish Energy Agency)

Ørsted and Danish pension fund ATP have announced plans to jointly bid to operate Denmark’s planned North Sea energy island.

The government is due to tender an artificially constructed island serving as a hub to connect offshore wind farms in the North Sea and distribute power generated.

Ørsted and ATP will also examine how best to integrate power-to-x technology – to use excess electricity to produce chemical products, such as green hydrogen – within the energy island and future energy infrastructure in the North Sea.

Green hydrogen or ammonia could be used to decarbonise sectors such as aviation and heavy transport, the Danish government had suggested.

Danish developer Ørsted has stakes in more than 8.2GW of operational offshore wind farms worldwide, according to “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Intelligence, the research and data division of “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç.

Meanwhile, ATP has more than 5.3 million members with funds totalling DKK 960 billion (€130 billion).

The partners explained that their joint bid would build on their industrial and financial capabilities.

The Danish government has not yet given a timeline for tendering the North Sea energy island.

However, it has previously stated that the Danish state would retain a majority stake in the island.