Norway Approves EIA for GoliatVIND Floating Wind Project, Paving Way for Licence Application

November 12, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) programme for the GoliatVIND floating offshore wind project.

In line with the exemption provision in the Offshore Energy Act, GoliatVIND will shortly submit a licence application.

If granted, the project is said to be the world’s first demonstration plant with turbines and floaters over 15 MW. The company is backed by Odfjell Oceanwind, Source Galileo, Kansai Electric Power, and ENEOS Renewable Energy.

“We are very pleased with the approval of the environmental impact assessment programme, which is a clear path towards licensing. To meet Enova’s deadline and to be competitive globally, we are dependent on a licence being granted in 2025″, said Gunnar Birkeland, CEO of Source Galileo Norge and Chair of Goliatvind AS.

“In light of the postponement of Utsira Nord, and the fact that other countries also have upcoming projects in the near future, GoliatVIND represents a key project to secure Norway’s position in floating offshore wind.”

On 29 November last year, Goliat submitted a proposal for an EIA programme for the floating offshore wind project outside Hammerfest in Norway. The proposal was circulated for consultation by the Ministry of Energy with a deadline of 31 January 2024. A total of 31 consultation responses were received and published on the Ministry of Energy’s website.

To maintain progress, the project began work on the EIA in September 2023, in parallel with the Ministry of Energy’s consideration of the programme, said Source Galileo.

The 75 MW demonstration plant is planned to feature five 15 MW wind turbines, installed on Odfjell Oceanwind’s Deepsea Star semi-submersible floating foundation.

The project is expected to be built in 2028/2029, ahead of larger floating offshore wind developments in Norway.

GoliatVIND is said to enable earlier learning about floating offshore wind’s impact on nature and the environment, benefiting the entire offshore wind sector.

Project mapping, follow-up surveys, and monitoring will be conducted at the wind farm’s turbines, which are the same size as those in the planned large-scale developments, though on a much smaller scale. In comparison, in terms of capacity and number of turbines, GoliatVIND is approximately five to seven per cent of the size of the planned Utsira Nord project.

“As a demonstration plant, GoliatVIND will help establish Norwegian supplier capacity and reduce the technical risk of floating offshore wind in Norway. This will result in reduced risks and lower costs for the development of floating offshore wind projects in Norway, initially for the planned projects in the areas called Utsira Nord and Vestavind B”, stated Birkeland.