Norway's Ministry of Energy has announced a competition for three project areas for floating offshore wind at Utsira Nord. The project aims to facilitate increased renewable power production, technological development, and new growth opportunities for the supplier industry. The application deadline is September 15.
'This marks an important step forward for the Government’s offshore wind initiative. In addition to providing power to a region with high electricity demand, the announcement presents significant opportunities for new contracts for the supplier industry‘, says Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.
The allocation of project areas and state aid will take place in two stages, with a maturation phase in between. In the first stage, three project areas will be awarded to the applicants who score highest in a competition based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria. The qualitative criteria are:
- Cost levels, realism, and maturity
- Innovation and technological development
- Execution capability
- Sustainability
- Positive ripple effects
Each project area may have an installed capacity of up to 500 MW of floating offshore wind. Interested parties are now invited to submit their applications.
The application deadline is September 15.
' I look forward to receiving strong applications from the offshore wind industry. Utsira Nord is an important first step in the development of commercial floating offshore wind on the Norwegian continental shelf. The model for allocating project areas and state aid is tailored to floating offshore wind and can contribute to both technological development and cost reductions for future projects. The model has been developed in close dialogue with the offshore wind industry', says Aasland.
The competition for state aid will be conducted after a maturation phase. To participate in the state aid competition, must have submitted a license application and provided a bank guarantee for participation in the auction. The auction will only be held if at least two participants meet the requirements.
One applicant will be awarded state aid, and the winner will be the bidder with the lowest support requirement to realize their project. Bidders will not be permitted to bid higher than the upper limit for state aid of NOK 35 billion, as set by the Storting. The winner of the support competition shall establish a project as close to 500 MW as possible, depending on the chosen turbine size. Participants who do not win the support competition may apply to extend their exclusive rights to the project area under the rules of the Offshore Energy Act.
The government plans regular announcements of areas and support competitions, as outlined in the Ministry of Energy’s Prop. 1 S (2024–2025). The level of state aid will be determined in connection with the announcement rounds and approved by the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget).
The Ministry has also tasked the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) with conducting strategic environmental assessments of identified offshore wind areas in Norwegian waters. These assessments will be completed by the end of June 2025. They will evaluate coexistence with other industries and environmental considerations, providing important information for decisions on future openings and announcements on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The government believes that the development of Utsira Nord should benefit the Utsira community and will return with a concrete measure to ensure this in connection with the 2026 budget.
The announcement and related documents are available on this page: Utsira Nord
Source: Ministry of Energy
