Statkraft said a power surplus and a "continued moderate demand" for power meant the six projects in Fosen and Snillfjord will be unprofitable. It said development costs of the projects were estimated at NOK 11 billion (€1.25 billion).
President and CEO Christian Rynning-Tonnesen said: "The authorities have contributed by facilitating wind power development, for example through improving the depreciation rules. Unfortunately, the market development is such that it is still not commercially responsible to invest in these projects."
In February, the Norwegian government announced plans to change depreciation rules to bring them in line with Sweden's. At the time, trade body NORWEA adviser Lars Granlund said the new rules would increase the return to developers from Norwegian wind projects by NOK 0.03/kWh (€0.003/kWh).
Vestas had been named the preferred supplier for the six projects. The manufacturer would have supplied its V117 3.3MW turbine, uprated to 3.45MW using its new power mode.
As operator, Statkraft had been leading the procurement process on behalf of the joint ventures developing the projects, Fosen Vind AS and SAE Vind DA.
The companies involved in the ventures with Statkraft were Norwegian utilities NTE, Agder Energi and TronderEnergi.
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