Two consortia have applied for offshore sites in the Norwegian area designated for floating wind projects, Utsira Nord. The bidders are Harald Hårfagre, a joint venture between Deep Wind Offshore and EDF Renewables, and a consortium of Equinor and Vårgrønn.
Norway’s Ministry of Energy will now begin the work on assessing the applications and plans to allocate project sites during the first half of 2026. There are no financial obligations or fees associated with the allocation of land.
The Ministry announced a competition for the allocation of areas for floating offshore wind in Utsira Nord in May this year, offering three sites with a project capacity of 500 MW each.
The tendering process is being carried out in two stages: the allocation of project sites and the state aid, with a maturation phase in between.
In the first stage, the sites will be allocated to the developers who score the highest in a competition based on qualitative criteria, including cost level and maturity, innovation and technology development, feasibility, sustainability, and positive ripple effects.
The competitive tender for state aid is expected to be held in 2028/29.
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The competition for state aid will be conducted after a maturation phase. To participate, the bidder must have submitted a licence application and provided a bank guarantee for participation in the auction. The auction will only be conducted if at least two developers meet the requirements.
The winner will be the developer who bids with the lowest support requirement to realise their project. Bidding higher than the upper limit for state aid of NOK 35 billion (around EUR 3 billion) will not be permitted. The winner of the support competition will establish a project as close to 500 MW as possible, depending on the chosen turbine size. Any bidders who do not win the support competition will be able to apply to have the exclusive right to the project area extended according to the rules in the Offshore Energy Act, according to the information shared by the Ministry.
Equinor and Vårgrønn have been working on their Utsira Nord project as a consortium since 2021, and the project is based on Equinor’s Hywind concept.
EDF Renewables and Deep Wind Offshore have also been working together on the first offshore wind projects in Norway since 2021, including preparing a competitive bid for the qualitative Utsira Nord tender.
In 2023, the consortium chose Moreld Ocean Wind as its preferred supplier for floating wind foundations.
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