Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has reversed a decision by the country’s energy regulator (NVE) to extend the commissioning deadline for the up to 350MW Havsul 1 offshore wind farm.
Havsul 1, for which Canadian company Enbridge is managing development, was originally granted a licence in 2008 with a commissioning deadline of 1 January 2020.
In 2019, NVE granted an extension to the deadline until 2025, but the decision was appealed by a number of organisations including green groups and fishing industry trade bodies.
They raised concerns about procedural errors in the municipal processing of the case, and that the licensing is old and based on an outdated knowledge base, among other things.
NVE subsequently sent the case to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy to assess.
The ministry said that following its assessment there are “grounds for changing NVE’s decision to grant a postponed deadline for commissioning”.
It said that, among other things, the original license and impact assessment are “old and need updates” and the “licensee probably needs further deadlines and license changes before any realisation can take place”.
It added: “The ministry is of the opinion that any new plans for a development of the Havsul 1 wind farm should possibly be considered through a new licensing process.”
In conclusion, the ministry said the application for an extended deadline for commissioning “must be rejected”.
Enbridge had not responded to a request for comment at press time.