Ørsted and BP have reached a solution regarding their disagreements in relation to the development of Ørsted’s Hornsea 4 wind farm. BP has previously filed protests against the project, arguing that it hinders BP’s plans to store CO₂ under the seabed in the same area.

With the agreement, the British oil firm withdraws its objection to Ørsted’s Hornsea 4 project, writes Bloomberg News with reference to documents put forth by UK authorities.

”Ørsted and BP confirm that a commercial agreement has been made. On this background, Ørsted and BP agree that no demands prevail to protection stipulations under the Hornsea 4 development consent order to the benefit of BP or any other involved party in Northern Endurance Project,” reads the document filed to UK authorities.

The exact details of the commercial agreement are not disclosed.

”BP has no remaining objections to the Hornsea 4 application and agrees to withdraw all previous representations in relation to the Hornsea 4 development consent order application.”

The conflict between Ørsted and BP stems from efforts from both companies to launch seabed projects in the same region. Ørsted aims to install a wind farm on the seabed, whereas BP plans to store carbon underneath it.

According to documents that Ørsted filed to UK authorities last year, BP attempted to ”force through” that Ørsted would not be allowed to install offshore wind turbines in areas where the two projects overlap.

In relation thereto, BP claimed in a document filed to authorities in Planning Inspectorate in December 2021 that the two projects could not co-exist due to BP’s need to install wells, build infrastructure and ensure access to installations via helicopters.

Back then, the British oil firm stressed that its project could store 12 times as much CO₂ as the power production from Ørsted’s project could create in reductions.

The intersection of the two projects represents 25 percent of the area that Ørsted has been granted, and it would have meant a 675MW capacity reduction if BP’s protests had been sustained. Hornsea 4’s planned capacity totals at 2.6GW.

According to Ørsted, a reduction of that size would probably have rendered the project non-competitive, just as it could have hindered Ørsted’s project in winning an auction on power sales at a fixed price to the UK government.