Offshore wind – Floating Wind
The Norwegian Ministry of Energy announced a competition for three project areas for floating offshore wind at Utsira Nord.
The application deadline is September 15.
The awarding of project areas for offshore wind 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 actors who score the highest in a competition based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria. The qualitative criteria are:
* Cost level, realism, and maturity
* Innovation and technology development
* Implementation capacity
* Sustainability
* Positive ripple effects
Each project area may have an installed capacity of up to 500 MW of floating offshore wind. Actors wishing to participate in the competition are now invited to submit their applications. The application deadline is September 15.
The competition for state aid will be carried out after a maturation phase. To participate in the competition for state aid, the actor must have submitted a license application and provided a bank guarantee for participation in the auction. The auction will only be conducted if at least two actors meet the requirements.
One actor will be awarded state aid, and the winner will be the one who bids the lowest support requirement to realize their project. It will not be permitted to bid higher than the upper limit of NOK 35 billion in state aid, as determined by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget).
The winner of the support competition must establish a project as close to 500 MW as possible, depending on the chosen turbine size. Actors who do not win the support competition may apply to extend their exclusive rights to the project area under the provisions of the Offshore Energy Act.
