Vattenfall 'Shrinks' Share in European Offshore Test Centre

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - The key backer of the controversial European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) in Aberdeen, Scotland, has decided to reduce its stake in the operation.

Swedish energy company, Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden), has said it wants to reduce its stake-holding in the operation, as part of its strategy to "prioritise its investments". The company said it has already invested around €6 million ($7.6 million) into the project, which is expected to cost in excess of €270 million ($350 million) to complete.

The Centre, which will be Europe's largest planned testing centre for next generation offshore turbines, will have 11 turbines erected and connected to the grid. Located between 2 kilometers (km) and 4.5km from the coast of Aberdeen, they will have a combined generating capacity of up to 100-megawatts (MW) and produce enough power for approximately 49,000 homes.

The bad news arrived just days after test drilling for the first foundations started. Vattenfall is constructing the centre with the aid of Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) and Technip.

In March, the company announced plans to axe 2,500 jobs by the end of next year, blaming a combination of low electricity demand, an oversupply of CO2-emission allowances, production overcapacity and low electricity market prices.

"The EOWDC is a scheme that will benefit the whole offshore wind industry as it will help to drive down the cost of generation and secure industrial benefits for the U.K.," Peter Wesslau, Vattenfall's UK country manager, explained. "We therefore believe that the EOWDC deserves wider support through the forging of a strategic industrial alliance. However, like all energy companies across Europe, there are constraints on our capital budgets and so Vattenfall has had to prioritise its investments which means calling on new investors to help realise the more than £230 million investment in the EOWDC."

The offshore test centre has come under high profile attack by outspoken billionaire property developer, Donald Trump, who is in the process of constructing a massive hotel, golf and housing development on the nearby Menie Estate in Aberdeen. In March, Trump said he was postponing investing a further €895 million ($1.17 billion) after the Scottish government gave the go ahead for the test centre. For additional information, see March 28, 2013, article - Donald 'Trumped' by Scottish Windfarm.

Commenting on Vattenfall's decision this week, Trump declared to STV that that "no one would be stupid enough to invest" in it now.

"They [Vattenfall] are out of this project, they can't afford this project, this project will lose £25 million a year, and no investor will be stupid enough to invest in it. This is going to cost £25m a year and, at the end of five years, you will have to replace every one of these windmills, because they are going to rot to hell in the North Sea."

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