The Norwegian Ministry of Energy is calling for applications to its tender for three floating offshore wind project areas at Utsira Nord.
Each project area may have an installed capacity of up to 500MW of floating offshore wind. Interested parties must submit applications by September 15.
According to the Ministry, the allocation of project areas 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 applicants who score highest in a competition based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria.
The competition for state aid will be conducted after a maturation phase. To participate in the state aid competition, the developer must have submitted a license application and provided a bank guarantee for participation in the auction. The auction will only be held if at least two applications meet the requirements.
The winner will be the bidder with the lowest support requirement to realise their project. Bidders will not be permitted to bid higher than the upper limit for state aid of NOK 35bn ($3.4bn).
“In addition to providing power to a region with high electricity demand, the announcement presents significant opportunities for new contracts for the supplier industry. Utsira Nord is an important first step in the development of commercial floating offshore wind on the Norwegian continental shelf,” said Terje Aasland, Norway’s minister of energy.
