Norway and Portugal Bolster Offshore Wind Ties

February 20, 2023, by Adnan Memija

The Norwegian Marine Energy Test Center (METCentre) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Portugal-based WavEC to collaborate on offshore wind development.

The MoU was signed after Norway’s offshore wind organisation, Norwegian Offshore Wind, visited the Portuguese government and industry representatives earlier this month. Norwegian Offshore Wind represents more than 360 companies and is responsible for the METCentre.

Arvid Nesse, the manager of METCentre and Norwegian Offshore Wind, said that the Portuguese market has really picked up the speed to what appears to become a grand take-off.

The country has recently identified draft areas for offshore wind development as part of the government’s plan to award 10 GW of capacity that would be grid-connected by 2030.

The auction is expected to take place in autumn 2023.

“At the same time, we in Norway are moving forward with our offshore wind projects. Our two countries have many similarities that call for a close collaboration between offshore wind companies, and this MOU is an important first step,” said Nesse.

WavEC provides commercial services for wind farm developers and is a shareholder of the Aguçadoura test site, which has been a testing area in the development of offshore renewable technologies.

“They are central in RDI projects on offshore wind that could give Norwegian companies a platform for demonstrating and testing their solutions in the Atlantic Sea. METCentre and WavEC have both leading testing and demonstration assets with different environments, oceans, and weather features. These assets enable great synergies between the two test sites”, added Nesse.

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy plans to tender Utsira Nord and the first phase of the Southern North Sea II (Sørlige Nordsjø II) offshore wind areas by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

At Southern North Sea II, Norway will award 1.5 GW of offshore wind capacity in the first phase and a further 1.5 GW at a later date in the second phase. At Utsira Nord, a total of 1.5 GW will be awarded in 2023 across three 500 MW sites.

“We will jointly work on projects of common interest, where we can promote the sharing of knowledge, experiences and competences in a culture of collaboration that we believe to be essential to accelerate the development of the sector and eventually the pace of the energy transition”, said Marco Alves, CEO at WavEC.