The Norwegian government is to open two new offshore zones off the country’s south-west coast that have the potential to support up to 4.5GW of capacity.
Utsira Noord to the west of Haugesund and Sorlige Nordsjo 2 farther south will be up for grabs from 1 January 2021.
The first site will be mainly for floating wind and covers 1010 square kilometres of acreage suitable for demonstration and larger projects.
Sorlige Nordsjo 2 meanwhile borders the Danish sea area of the North Sea is suitable for fixed and floating foundations. The 2591 square kilometre zone is “relevant for director export of electricity”.
Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru (pictured), who confirmed the release of the sites today during a trip to the Hywind demo machine off Haugesund, said offshore wind offers strong opportunities for Norwegian business.
“In the immediate future the market will be in other countries, but if the costs for offshore wind power continues to fall it could also become competitive in Norway,” she said.
“It is now time to prepare for the future development by allocating space for offshore renewables.”
A third Sandskallen-Soroya Nord zone off Hammerfest has not been brought forward.
Bru added: “I have taken note of the robust resistance to opening Sandskallen-Soroya Nord, from among other the fisheries associations. Fisheries is an important industry which actively uses our sea space, and I have put large emphasis on their views.”