Ikea owner buys into Swedish offshore wind with hydrogen and e-fuel potential

Ingka Investment, the investment arm of Ikea owner Ingka Group, has agreed to buy a 49% stake in two more large Baltic Sea wind projects in Sweden from OX2, which could combine offshore wind with hydrogen and e-fuel production.

The Nordic developer will receive an initial payment of about SKr230m ($22.3m) for the stakes in the Pleione project east of the Baltic Sea Island of Gotland and the Neptunus project southeast of the southern Swedish province of Blekinge, which have a combined capacity of 2.4GW.

Following successful permitting, OX2 will in addition receive a pre-agreed deferred consideration of about SKr0.7m per MW for 49% of planned capacity.

“Our continued partnership with OX2 reaffirms our commitment to address climate footprint reduction well beyond our own consumption and into our value chain,” Ingka Investments managing director Peter van der Poel said.

“So far Ingka Investments has invested and committed €4bn ($4.4bn) into renewable energy projects in wind and solar power.”

The parties are currently also exploring more cooperation in the Swedish market, including the Ran project, which is located near Pleione.

They will in addition investigate the establishment of offshore hydrogen production facilities and examine how this could enable artificial oxygenation of the Baltic Sea to bring back marine life to parts of it that suffer from anoxic conditions.

“Sweden has excellent conditions for renewable energy, especially offshore wind. We look forward to further strengthening our partnership with Ingka Investments,” OX2 CEO Paul Stormoen said.

“Our next-generation project pipeline, where we can combine offshore wind with hydrogen and e-fuel production, will meet the growing demand for renewable energy and enable business opportunities.”