Statkraft mulls options as Ocean Winds exits Norwegian auction floating wind team

Statkraft has no bidding partners for Norway’s upcoming Utsira Nord floating offshore wind tender after Ocean Winds joined Mainstream Renewable Power in pulling out of the companies’ development consortium.

The Norwegian state power group, Ocean Winds and Mainstream’s parent company, Aker Offshore Wind, had formed a bidding group for Utsira Nord in 2021.

But now Mainstream and – more recently – Ocean Winds have pulled out, with the latter telling “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç today (22 November) it has decided to “prioritise other opportunities in its portfolio”. Mainstream pulled out of the bidding consortium earlier this month.

A Statkraft spokesperson told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç: “Statkraft is assessing options to participate and succeed in the Utsira Nord licence allocation.”

Norway plans to support a single 500MW project at the deepwater Utsira Nord site with up to NOK 35 billion (€3 billion) in an auction round early next year, despite previously suggesting two projects would be supported. 

The auction has previously been delayed while the Norwegian government sought to ensure compliance with EU state aid rules.