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The UK blackout in early August gave the world’s largest offshore wind power operator Denmark Orsted A sense of crisis, because it is responsible for the operation of the world’s largest offshore wind farm-Hornsea 1 in the North Sea of the United Kingdom, which is one of the “culprits” that caused the blackout. In Woxu Energy's view, this blackout has sounded the alarm, and we should jump out of the "comfort circle" and expand the business scale of onshore wind power, solar energy and energy storage while opening up more markets.
(by our reporter Wang Lin)
▍50% reduction in 2032
Woxu Energy stated in a statement that it will invest at least 2,000 between 2019 and 2025 100 million Danish kroner (about 30 billion US dollars), of which one-fourth is used for the development of onshore wind power and solar energy.
According to the company’s latest climate goals, will reduce the overall emissions of operations, supply chain and product sales by 50% by 2032 , and it will seek to build wind farms in a more environmentally friendly way in the future. .
Henrik Poulsen, CEO of Woxu Energy, said that offshore wind power is an industry with rapid growth in demand, increasingly fierce competition, and accelerated cost reduction. "In the past 3 to 4 years, we have seen the trend of fierce competition." He said frankly in an interview, "In mature markets, our rate of return has been greatly compressed, and expanding into new markets will be the next step. "
Henrik Poulsen emphasized: "We do not intend to stop in the Northwestern Nordic offshore wind power market. This is a very attractive but also extremely competitive market. We should bring our offshore wind power technology and experience to Globally, at the same time expand the business scope to onshore wind power, solar energy and energy storage.”
▍Get involved in North America and Asia
In Woxu’s view, North America and Asia are undoubtedly new First choice in the market. From July to August, Woxu Energy won two major contracts at offshore wind power auctions in New York and New Jersey.
Business Wire pointed out that Wox Energy also introduced a large-scale offshore wind power project to New Jersey. This offshore wind farm called Ocean Wind with an estimated installed capacity of 1.1 GW will be the state’s first large-scale offshore wind farm. It is expected to become the largest offshore wind farm in the United States.
New Jersey currently has a target of 3.5 GW of offshore wind power by 2030. According to the official website of the New Jersey State Public Utilities Bureau (NJBPU), the Ocean Wind offshore wind farm will be the first offshore wind farm in the United States to exceed 1 GW. According to the final investment decision of Wosch Energy, it is expected to be completed in 2024.
Henrik Poulsen said that scale is the driving force of competitiveness, and this is the rule of the game that Wox Energy has mastered. "New Jersey is at the core of offshore wind power." It is reported that Wox Energy has set up an office in Atlantic City in southeastern New Jersey. This seaside city is struggling to get out of the double recession of the casino industry and construction industry. The company is stationed here to be 15 miles from the coast. Invested in the construction of Ocean Wind.
Ocean Wind is a project of Wox Energy's plan to expand offshore wind power installations in the United States. According to the plan, Wox Energy will complete 2.2 GW of installed capacity between 2022 and 2024. Other projects include Skipjack, Maryland, which is expected to be put into operation in 2022 with an installed capacity of 120 MW, and South Long Island, New York, which is expected to put into operation in 2022 with an installed capacity of 130 MW. Fork, and the Revolution Wind with an installed capacity of 704 MW, which is expected to be put into production in 2023, have installed capacity of 400 MW and 304 MW in Rhode Island and Connecticut respectively.
▍Mature market risks still exist
"The unexpected risks in mature markets make us alert." Henrik Poulsen emphasized. It can be said that Brexit and the blackout accident are the decisive factors that boost Wosch Energy's determination to transform.
"The Guardian" reported that Hornsea 1 can be described as a "symbol" of the rapid growth of the global offshore wind power market, but it drags down the British power grid and leads to the sudden result of a blackout accident. "Uncontrollable" worries further intensified.
On August 9, the Little Barford Natural Gas Power Station and Hornsea 1 in Bedfordshire were off the grid almost at the same time and stopped supplying power to the British grid. This caused the grid frequency to drop to a safe range and eventually led to darkness in most parts of the UK. Hornsea 1 may suddenly lose part of its load due to insufficient low-voltage ride-through capability of the wind turbine, and its output suddenly drops by about 900 MW, which means that although the wind turbine is still rotating, it is operating in an offline state.
Ofgem, the British electricity regulator, ordered the British grid system operator, the National Grid Corporation of the United Kingdom, to submit an "emergency and detailed report" explaining the cause of the blackout. Currently, Wox Energy and Little Barford operator German utility giant Rheinland (RWE) are cooperating with the investigation.
At the end of October, Wox Energy also reduced the expected lifetime return rate of its 7 large offshore wind power projects under construction from the previous 8% to 7.5%, but still maintained the company's average capital from 2019 to 2025 The rate of return reached the target of 10%. In the first half of this year, Wosch Energy's revenue increased by 29% compared with the same period last year, and its net profit increased by 33%; adjusted profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization from January to September increased by 19% year-on-year to DKK 12.9 billion ( About 1.9 billion US dollars).
However, Wox Energy is concerned about the possible negative impact of Brexit. Given that the company has a large number of offshore wind power assets in the UK, the expectation of a sharp drop in the pound exchange rate after Brexit will have a serious impact on the British economy and further affect the development of the country's offshore wind power industry.
In the view of Woxu Energy, has become a must-play chess move . Deepa Venkateswaran, an analyst at Bernstein Research, said that Wosch Energy, which seeks to transform, will definitely be difficult at the beginning, but to stay in place is to regress, especially in the renewable energy industry with fast technology updates and rapid cost decline. This decision makes sense. Among.
▍The second transformation is optimistic.
This is not the biggest transformation of Woxu Energy, but it is definitely another business breakthrough. Bloomberg pointed out that business adjustments are bound to be accompanied by risks. Wosch Energy’s debt level is expected to rise with business expansion. The company’s goal is to maintain the ratio of cash flow from operating activities to net debt at 30%. The higher the ratio, the greater the solvency. Strong.
It is understood that this is Henrik Poulsen’s second transition since he became CEO in 2012. At the time of the first transition, the company was still on the verge of integrating oil and gas, coal and wind power called DONG Energy. Bankrupt integrated energy company. The board of directors gave great support to the issue of abandoning fossil fuels and focusing on offshore wind power. After the reshaping, Woxu Energy ushered in success. Since its listing in 2016, its share price has more than doubled.
The industry is generally optimistic about the “second transformation”. It is enviable that Wox Energy has got rid of fossil fuels and successfully transitioned to renewable energy, but this success is difficult to replicate. Kingsmill Bond, a new energy strategist at the consulting firm Carbon Tracker, pointed out that this is not an easy path to follow. After all, giving up the hugely profitable fossil fuel is not pursued by all shareholders.
Henrik Poulsen admitted that there has been a “temporary trade-off” between the pursuit of profit maximization and the transition to green energy. "When you completely switch to green energy, you will definitely lose the huge profits of black energy, , but we firmly believe that the prospect of continuous growth in green energy can completely make up for this missing ." He firmly stated.
End
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Produced | China Energy News (ID: cnenergy)
Responsible editor | Yan Zhiqiang
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