Wind

Ikea owner gets green light to buy into massive OX2 offshore wind pipeline

Ingka Investments cleared by merger authorities to buy nearly half of 9GW offshore wind pipeline in Sweden from developer

IKEA story in Nice, France
IKEA story in Nice, FranceFoto: Ingka Group

The investment arm of Ikea owner Ingka Group has obtained merger clearance for its planned acquisition of a 49% stake in a 9GW offshore wind pipeline in Sweden from developer OX2.

The transaction is now expected to close within two weeks, OX2 said. The developer will receive an initial payment of about €58m ($58m), and after permits are obtained and if both parties agree to continue the development, another payment of up to €100,000 per MW of the planned total capacity.

The capacity is spread across three early stage developments in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat Strait (off western Sweden) – which would be among the world’s largest and could be operating at the end of the decade, according to OX2 chief executive Paul Stormoen.
Frederik de Jong, head of renewable energy at Ingka Investments in September had told Recharge his company plans to invest further in offshore wind, beyond the Swedish projects, on a global scale.

Ingka Investment has already spent more than €3bn ($3bn) to make its global furniture retail business greener, and plans to spend another about €3.5bn in renewable energies.

OX2’s Stormoen, meanwhile, had told Recharge that more partners – such as financial institutions or pension funds – could join the consortia for the three gigascale Swedish offshore wind projects now being planned with Ingka: the Galatea-Galene off the western Swedish province of Halland, Triton off the southern province of Skåne, and the about 5.5GW Aurora project between the Swedish islands of Gotland and Öland in the Baltic Sea.

Sweden currently has only 192MW of operating offshore wind capacity as Stockholm so far hadn’t provided any dedicated support for offshore wind, which it is trying to correct now in the form of up to 10GW of free grid links to be provided to developers starting in 2029.

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Published 9 November 2022, 14:24Updated 9 November 2022, 15:06
EuropeSwedenIKEAOX2Finance