Norway Extends Licence Application Deadline for First Commercial Offshore Wind Farm

The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has granted Ventyr, a consortium of JERA Nex BP and Ingka Investments, a twelve-month extension of the deadline for submitting a license application for the Sørlige Nordsjø II (Southern North Sea II) project, Norway’s first commercial offshore wind farm.

Ventyr submitted an application to the Ministry of Energy for an extension of the deadline in June 2026, saying it would use the additional time to, among other things, assess an alternative option for the project’s landfall and grid connection.

The developer said in June that some project development activities had been slowed down as it had “experienced a number of unexpected challenges in the development and planning of Sørlige Nordsjø II as well as confronting the difficult macroeconomic environment in offshore wind.”  

For the alternative route for the landfall and grid connection, Ventyr said that it was a potentially attractive solution with significant societal and environmental benefits, but that it needed to be matured through further studies.

The new route that Ventyr will investigate is referred to as G 2.0 and involves new infrastructure near the existing Lista substation at Alcoa’s aluminium plant, in parallel with the construction of the Sørlige Nordsjø II converter station.

The new deadline for Ventyr to submit a licence application for the up to 1.5 GW offshore wind farm is set for 15 October 2027.

The consortium won the rights to develop the offshore wind project at the Sørlige Nordsjø II zone with a winning bid of NOK 1.15/kWh (EUR 0.099/kWh) in March 2024, in Norway’s first offshore wind auction offering 1.5 GW in the fixed-bottom project development zone.

In May last year, the Ministry of Energy launched the country’s first floating wind tender for the Utsira Nord area, and in September last year, revealed that it had received two applications for the 500 MW Utsira Nord areas. In December 2025, the Ministry said both applicants – a joint venture between Deep Wind Offshore and EDF Renewables, and a consortium of Equinor and Vårgrønn – would be awarded a project area.

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