The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has opened a consultation on guidelines for the allocation process for Utsira Nord and Sorlige Nordsjo 2 offshore wind zones.
The government said that before areas can be allocated and applications can be processed, several details in the regulations must be clarified.
It is proposing amendments to both the Marine Energy Act and the Marine Energy Regulations, and a guideline for the licensing process for offshore wind.
The Ministry is asking in particular for input to the pre-qualification process, including which disciplines an actor must have competence in in order to be able to develop a large-scale wind power plant in Norwegian sea areas.
The Ministry also wants feedback or general considerations for how to pre-qualify a consortium or companies that want to pre-qualify together.
It is also asking for input on which criteria are most relevant for the qualitative allocation on Utsira Nord given the goal of technology development of floating offshore wind.
Consultation responses must be submitted through the online solution on regjeringen.no.
It is open until 20 August 2021.
The proposals are part of a wider energy white paper put out by the government on long-term value creation from Norwegian energy resources.
The development of offshore wind and green hydrogen are both included in the white paper, as is electrification of the wider Norwegian economy.