Norway to use land-based prototype to drive down floating wind costs

The funds from Enova – a state enterprise owned by Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment that promotes the shift towards more environmentally friendly energy – will enable Wergeland Group and Georgine Wind, which is owned by GE Vernova, to erect a prototype offshore wind turbine on land.

The turbine will be installed in the Sløvågen industrial area in Gulen municipality and used to help reduce the cost of energy from floating windfarms. The money – more than US$30M – is coming from Enova’s ‘Havvind 2035’ programme.

The turbine, a 15.5-MW Haliade X-250 with a rotor diameter of 250 m, will be installed in 2025, and will be tested for up to five years. The project was approved by the Gulen municipal council earlier in 2024.

A licence for the project from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) is expected in the second half of 2024. Once testing has been completed, the turbine will remain in place and produce electricity for another 25 years.

GE Vernova sales director Nordic offshore wind Niklas Indrevær said, “We are grateful for Enova’s support, and look forward to further collaboration to develop the prototype for our Haliade X-250 offshore wind turbine. 

“Support from Enova will contribute to the development of our next-generation offshore wind turbine. By installing the turbine here in Norway, GE Vernova can help Norway become a leader in offshore wind.”

Enova director of technology and market development Astrid Lilliestråle said the project “is an important step toward reducing the cost of floating offshore wind in the long-term.” She said Enova was prepared to support it “because it will verify and demonstrate a more cost-effective technology than that available on the market today.

“This project will speed up Norwegian offshore wind investment,” she explained. “If Norway is to meet its long-term climate commitments, industry and society must be electrified, and offshore wind will play an important role in that process.

“NVE’s latest long-term power market analysis suggests that, by 2024, electricity consumption in Norway will have increased by more than 40% compared with today. Offshore wind is key to meeting this power demand,” she said.

Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen agreed the award from Enova will help the development of offshore wind technology in Norway. He said the Norwegian government “wants to make arrangements for floating offshore wind to become a new leg for the Norwegian supplier industry.”

Energy Minister Terje Aasland said, “A lot of exciting things are happening in offshore wind. It is important to develop technology and reduce costs, and this project can do both.”