Norway: Five Zones for Offshore Wind Development

 The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy now makes the results from a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of 15 offshore wind zones in Norway available for public consultation. The SEA gives an interesting update on how offshore wind could develop in Norway and it gives an excellent update on how technology for deep water may develop towards 2020.

– Norway has large areas offshore with very good wind conditions, and we need more renewable energy. We are now having a thorough process to find the best zones for offshore wind energy. The timing for actual exploitation will depend on technology development, cost and demand, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe.

The SEA gives a thorough and updated analysis of offshore wind technical and economic potential in Norwegian waters. This part of the assessment is available in English. The main author of the report is Multiconsult, one of Norway’s leading consulting companies within renewable energy.

The report assesses the attractiveness of 15 zones pre-selected by the authorities for the development of offshore wind in both shallow and deeper waters. The analysis are based on a broad offshore wind technology state-of-the-art, a site pre-selection for each zone and the levelised cost of energy was estimated for each zone.

Nicolai Lovdal is a senior consultant in Multiconsult with a PhD on international entrepreneurship within renewable energy. He points out that the assessment confirmed the large potential for offshore wind in Norway. However, it becomes quite clear that Norway should focus more on innovation and demonstration activities, to qualify technology for Norwegian conditions and to support a competitive Norwegian supply chain.

 – Our findings suggest that floating technologies may be competitive on deeper water already by 2020, but we need to facilitate more experience with deep-sea technology to make this happen. Further, we see that the large-scale offshore wind projects in Norway will depend on a strong national supply chain. A true political commitment to create a minimum home market of demonstration and pilot projects could be essential, says Dr. Lovdal.

[mappress]

Press release, February 25, 2013; Image: multiconsult