Norway Aims to Boost Floating Wind with $3.3 Billion Government Subsidy
On Monday, October 7, the Norwegian Government unveiled plans to provide up to $3.29 billion in subsidies for its upcoming floating wind tender, set for 2025. The funding, based on a reference project of around 500MW, aims to support the country's first commercial floating offshore wind power tender.
Terje Aasland, Norway's Energy Minister, stated: "Norway has enormous potential for floating offshore wind on its continental shelf, but because the technology is still immature and expensive, government support is needed to speed up development."
Floating wind technology, while promising due to access to stronger winds and more space compared to fixed offshore wind farms, faces significant engineering and cost challenges. These have been exacerbated in recent years due to inflation impacting turbine manufacturers and suppliers. Despite these hurdles, Norway has remained committed to expanding its floating wind capacity. Last year, state-owned Equinor inaugurated the world's largest floating wind farm, Hywind Tampen.
The government's subsidy proposal is part of Norway's broader target to allocate 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040. In 2023, the country had 152.3MW of offshore wind capacity, which is expected to increase to 162.3MW by the end of 2024, according to GlobalData.
In addition to the floating wind announcement, Norway's 2025 budget kept the subsidy amount unchanged from a mid-year agreement reached in June, with future capacity depending on cost developments, project maturity, and bidders' requirements.
