Offshore staff
BERGEN, Norway — Two more groups have joined the UtsiraVIND consortium bidding to develop floating offshore wind parks in the Utsira Nord area of the Norwegian North Sea.
The consortium was initially a partnership between Odfjell OceanWind and Source Galileo. Now they have been joined by Japanese utility Kansai and Ingka Investments, the investment division of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer.
Both are already investing in offshore wind in Europe. The bidding process for Utsira Nord is due to end in September.
The expanded consortium combines proprietary technology in floating structures, electrical engineering, offshore wind experience and access to finance. It will bid to develop, construct and operate a floating wind park on Utsira Nord, 32 km offshore, using Odfjell Oceanwind’s proprietary solutions.
For this first round tender, floating wind turbines will likely be developed for water depths of 180-280 m with a total capacity of 1.5 GW.
The Norwegian Ministry has divided the Utsira Nord area into three project areas. Installed power in each project must be a minimum of 460 MW and a maximum of 500 MW, with a potential extension of 250 MW for each area.
Applications must be submitted by September 2023, and allocation of project areas should follow in December.
08.03.2023
