Norwegian private equity group HitecVision and Italy’s Eni have formed a joint venture to develop renewable energy in the Nordic region, building on their existing cooperation in oil, they said on Wednesday.
The Vaargroenn venture, 69.6% owned by Eni, aims to install 1 gigawatt of electricity capacity towards 2030, initially targeting offshore wind in a forthcoming tender in Norway.
“That would entail investing some 200 million euros ($236 million) per year, so about 2 billion euros in total,” Vaargroenn Chief Executive Olav Hetland told Reuters.
Norway is Western Europe’s largest petroleum producer but generates most of its electricity at hydropower plants and has been pushing to increase renewables capacity to meet expected rising demand for electric vehicles. The country already boasts the world’s highest number of electric vehicles per capita.
Vaargroenn could build both fixed and floating wind turbines off Norway and in the future will also look at onshore wind in the Nordics, said Hetland, who was previously in charge of offshore wind at Norway’s largest power company, Statkraft.
Norway has opened two areas for offshore wind power developments in the North Sea, including one suitable for fixed wind turbines along its maritime border with Denmark.