Vattenfall and Seagust eye Norwegian offshore wind tender

Vattenfall and Norwegian investor Seagust have formed a joint venture to bid for rights in two Norwegian offshore wind areas capable of supporting up to 4.5GW of offshore wind capacity: Utsira Nord and Sørlige Nordsjø II.

Sørlige Nordsjø II will house two or three fixed-bottom wind farms, while Utsira Nord is slated for three 500MW sites for floating turbines, according to the Norwegian ministry of energy and petroleum. The two sites will be tendered as separate processes with different timelines and tender rules.

Vattenfall said its current understanding was that rights would be awarded by competitive auction for Sørlige Nordsjø II and in a criteria-based process for Utsira Nord. 

Utsira Nord is due to be the first area tendered, and Vattenfall stated it will probably see prequalification and bid submission this year, but the final award will probably be in 2023. Sørlige Nordsjø II is likely to follow a couple of months later.

Announcing a consultation on the sites last June, the ministry of petroleum and energy stated: “There is a big difference in the levels of maturity between bottom-fixed offshore wind technologies and floating wind. The government believes that support for technology development is the most appropriate tool for developing floating offshore wind solutions in Norway, as demonstration projects may help to reduce costs.”

In a digital address to the EERA DeepWind 2022 conference in Trondheim in January, minister of petroleum and energy Marte Mjøs Persen said that offshore wind is high on the government’s agenda. She “intends to publish an ambitious national strategy for offshore wind, which will include commitments to the supplier industry, regulations and a grid infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.” She said: “Offshore wind is currently our largest renewable export.”

In ‘Blue Ocean, Green Future’, a July 2021 strategic plan, the government stated that it aims to increase international earnings from offshore wind from NOK 11 billion (€1.1 billion) in 2019 to NOK 50 billion by 2030. 

Seagust was established in 2021 by industrial investment companies Arendals Fossekompani and Ferd.