Norway has postponed the application deadline for its first ever offshore wind tender for sites capable of supporting 3GW until the end of the year.
The Norwegian energy ministry said it expects it will need EU state aid to support its tender of seabed leases of the Sørlige Nordsjø II and Utsira Nord zones.
But this must be approved by the ESA, a body that monitors compliance with European Economic Area rules in Norway.
The ministry said that after recent talks with the ESA it was clear that it will take “somewhat longer than expected to get…approval” and that it had now moved the application deadline from the start of September until 1 November.
Norwegian energy minister Terje Aasland said the postponed deadline meant the tender would not now go ahead until the new year, but that it was still committed to its goal for the first turbines to be in operation by 2030.
Commenting on the delay, Arvid Nesse, manager of trade body Norwegian Offshore Wind, said: “It is unfortunate that we have further delays, but we hope they will now take measures to make up for this later. It is absolutely essential that the process around future tenders goes much faster…if we are to reach the offshore wind target of [allocating] 30GW [of offshore wind] by 2040.”
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