Enova awards Fortius Offshore Wind AS and Fram Wind Solutions AS billions in support to install four floating offshore wind turbines at METCentre's demonstration facility, aiming to cut the cost of floating offshore wind.

Enova Awards Billions to Floating Offshore Wind

Enova has awarded Fortius Offshore Wind AS and Fram Wind Solutions AS a combined USD 428.29 million in support to build floating offshore wind installations over the next five years.

The support is disbursed only if the projects are carried out, with USD 217.42 million going to Fortius Offshore Wind AS and USD 210.89 million to Fram Wind Solutions AS.

Both companies plan to install two large offshore wind turbines each at METCentre's demonstration facility for floating offshore wind off Karmøy in Rogaland. In total, four new floating offshore wind turbines will produce as much energy as the annual consumption of around 15,000 households, amounting to 300 million kilowatt hours of energy per year.

The goal of the projects is to test and showcase new technology that can make it cheaper to produce energy from floating offshore wind.

"If it succeeds in making offshore wind technology profitable enough, it will be a big step towards being able to build out renewable power at large scale more quickly. Both Norwegian industry and the transport sector need this to reduce their climate emissions," said Enova's chief executive, Evy Glørstad.

Technology Testing Where Costs Must Fall

The companies will test and demonstrate new technologies for, among other things, floating foundations for large turbines, how these are anchored, and how the installation is built and operated. According to Enova, these are among the most important areas where costs must come down for floating offshore wind to become profitable.

Each floating turbine to be installed has a power output of 18.5 megawatts. For the four turbines combined, that corresponds to roughly 20 average onshore wind turbines.

The projects won the competition for the funds on the basis of the amount of energy produced per support krone, the technology's potential for spread, climate footprint, impact on biodiversity, and how promising the projects are for delivering low future costs.

Norway's Particular Advantages

Enova sees great potential in the award. "Norway has particularly good conditions for building out floating offshore wind, because we have a strong maritime industry and large sea areas where it blows a lot," said Oskar Gärdeman, Enova's offshore wind lead.

The development of Norway's floating offshore wind effort is demanding pioneering work, according to Enova, which describes the potential for this award as significant.

Large International Push for Floating Wind

There is a major international push for floating offshore wind, particularly in Europe and Asia. Both France and the United Kingdom have been investing heavily in floating offshore wind in recent years through larger competitions and the tendering of areas for development.

This summer, France set aside USD 70.58 billion to build out floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind over the next 25 years. The European Commission has designated floating offshore wind as an important part of Europe's energy mix towards 2050.

According to a report Enova produced earlier this year on assignment from the Ministry of Energy, market players estimate that with a successful global build-out of floating offshore wind, energy could be produced at down to as low as USD 0.11 per kilowatt hour.

Enova's Role

Enova works for Norway's transition to a low-emission society, working to ensure that new energy and climate technology is developed and brought into use in the market. Enova SF is located in Trondheim and has around 120 employees. The company is owned by the Ministry of Climate and Environment.

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