Norway’s government is developing an auction model for a first 1.5GW in offshore wind capacity in the Southern North Sea 2 (Sørlige Nordsjø 2) area, and in spring will submit amendments to the country’s Marine Energy Act to parliament as plans for the landmark tender move forward.
The auction, which will be for the equivalent of seven terawatt hours of electricity production, is to be followed by a second of the same size in the area. The government had earlier said the Southern North Sea zone is suitable for both fixed-bottom and floating wind.
Norway at a later stage aims to tender off 1.5GW in capacity in the Utsira North floating wind area.
Between them the northern and southern areas have attracted interest from a roll-call of global offshore wind giants, including oil & gas groups looking to enter the sector.
The government said it also plans to identify further new areas for offshore wind in order to provide predictability for long-term investments into the country’s emerging sector for sea-based wind power. Auctions will be the main model for allocating areas at sea, it stressed.
“This [the first 1.5GW auction] is a solution that increases the power supply to southern Norway,” Prime Mininster Jonas Gahr Støre said.
“The government's goal is to facilitate that Norway has access to plenty of renewable and affordable power, so that this will also in the future be an advantage for Norwegian industry and contribute to value creation and employment throughout the country.”
The first 1.5GW in offshore wind capacity will meet the power consumption of 460,000 households, the government said – a significant amount, considering that Norway has 5.4 million inhabitants, and about 2.5 million households.
Norway, which recently has identified offshore wind as its largest renewable export, for the second 1.5GW phase of Southern North Sea 2 has yet to decide whether it will link the area only to the Norwegian mainland (to the north) or also to other countries, such as Germany to the south. Norway’s water resources and energy directorate (NVE) this year will carry out an analysis together with grid operator Statnett on the issue.
“Our goal is for us to have low electricity prices for people in Norway,” finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said.
Norway currently derives most of its electricity from hydropower, and some from onshore wind, but Oslo is seeking to increase the country’s power generation capacity to cater for in increasing electrification of society. The country already has the world’s highest penetration of electric vehicles.
The petroleum and energy ministry will commission the NVE to identify follow-up areas for offshore wind and to prepare proposals for an impact assessment programme for them, a process slated to take up to a year.
“Norway has the world's best skilled workers, engineers and supplier industry,” trade and industry minister Jan Christian Vestre said.
“With that competence and access to clean power, we have great opportunities to become a green industrial giant.”
