Norway designates three areas for 2025 offshore wind tender
- September 15, 2023
- Posted by: Quatro Strategies
- Categories: ESG & Renewable Energy, Europe, Sanctions & Regulation
Norway is moving forward with its plans to develop offshore wind energy, with the country’s oil and energy ministry considering three areas for an offshore wind tender scheduled for 2025. This initiative is part of Norway’s broader goal to achieve 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2040. The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the country’s energy regulator, has been tasked with evaluating these potential sites, located off Norway’s south and west coasts.
In April, NVE recommended 20 areas suitable for offshore wind farm deployment, but only two of these, Soervest F and Vestavind F, were deemed ready for development by 2025. These two areas encompass Norway’s initial tender locations at Soerlige Norsjoe II and Utsira Nord. Additionally, the ministry has asked NVE to begin a strategic impact assessment for Vestavind B, an area off the west coast known for favorable wind conditions and existing infrastructure.
The specific capacity to be developed in these areas has not been determined yet. The ministry expects the NVE to present its report on these sites by November 2024. Furthermore, the ministry has requested impact assessments for the remaining 17 suitable areas by June 2025 as part of the country’s aim to achieve its 2040 offshore wind target.
Norway’s first offshore wind tenders are currently open, with submissions due by November 1. These tenders include 1.5 GW of bottom-fixed offshore wind capacity at Soerlige Nordsjoe II and up to 2.25 GW of floating offshore wind capacity at Utsira Nord. These projects are expected to deliver clean electricity to mainland Norway starting in 2030, helping meet growing demand for decarbonization in various industries. Several companies, including Equinor, have expressed interest in developing offshore wind projects in Norway.
Interested in learning more?
Sign up for Top Insights Today
Top Insights Today delivers the latest insights straight to your inbox.
You will get daily industry insights on
Oil & Gas, Rare Earths & Commodities, Mining & Metals, EVs & Battery Technology, ESG & Renewable Energy, AI & Semiconductors, Aerospace & Defense, Sanctions & Regulation, Business & Politics.
Read more insights
Asia’s fuel shortage exposes who can afford energy security
There is a dispute running through the oil market about how much crude actually leaves the Strait of Hormuz, and it has consumed a remarkable amount of analytical attention. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has claimed roughly 15 million barrels per day on one day last week and about 9 million averaged over a seven-day period, without specifying dates, vessel names or destinations.
Other trackers show around four, five or seven million barrels per day including dark transits and ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman. The dispute will settle itself, which is precisely why it is the wrong thing to argue about. Import volumes at destination ports are far easier to track than transits through a contested waterway where transponders are switched off.
Berlin quietly builds an economic arsenal against China
Germany’s economic doctrine has rested for forty years on a proposition that is now being abandoned in private while still being affirmed in public. The proposition was that interdependence produces peace, that selling machine tools to everyone makes conflict irrational, and that a country whose prosperity depends on open markets should never be the one to close them.
Berlin is now quietly compiling a list of the places where cutting China off would hurt most. Officials insist this is not hostile. It is simply what a country does when it has concluded that its founding economic assumption no longer holds.
Japan is paying heavily to bring crude supplies forward
Japanese refiners are paying heavily to bring oil supplies forward as the disruption of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline puts additional pressure on Asia’s near-term crude market. The purchases suggest that delivery timing is becoming a decisive consideration: a cargo available for an earlier loading window can command a substantial premium when buyers face uncertainty over their scheduled supplies.
Eneos Holdings and Idemitsu Kosan recently purchased Oman crude for loading as early as October, according to traders cited in the report. September transactions would ordinarily cover November-loading Persian Gulf supplies, making these purchases unusually close to the shipment date. Both companies declined to comment, and the total volumes remain unclear.