In the autumn of 2024, the proposal for the support program was subject to public consultation and the Ministry received around 60 consultation responses. In the notification to ESA, the Ministry of Energy reviews the main lines of the input, see the Ministry’s summary here.

In the notification, the Ministry proposes a model in which the allocation of project areas and state aid is granted in two stages. This is the first time such a model has been considered under the state aid rules.

The first step is the allocation of project areas based on a competition with objective and non-discriminatory qualitative criteria.

Before the second step is initiated, there will be a maturation phase of around two years during which the players who have been allocated project areas in the first stage will be allowed to mature their projects. When this phase is over, phase two will be opened where the players who were awarded project areas in the first phase can participate in an auction for government support for their project. In the auction, the plan is for one project to obtain support for a capacity of 500 MW and that the winner of the auction will be the player that needs the least state aid to realize its project. The support will be given as investment support.                                                                                                                                                                                   

In the public consultation on the proposed support program, it was mainly Statkraft and the Nordvegen Vind consortium, consisting of Corio Generation and Å Energi that were positive to investment support, highlighting that this will make more room for long-term PPAs. The other participants who submitted consultation responses were more positive to contracts for difference (CfD), such as for Sørlige Nordsjø II, and pointed out that contracts for difference are a widespread and experienced form of support scheme. A correctly structured two-sided CfD, without cap, is in their opinion the optimal support instrument to attract competition, lower risks, reduce costs, and therefore leads to the least amount of government support. Several stakeholders have also expressed concern that investment support is less suitable than CfDs from a project finance perspective. However, the Ministry has decided to move forward with investment support, as the risk of high costs under a CfD without a cap is considered to be too high.

With a maturation phase of two years from the allocation of project areas until the auction is announced, it can be expected that the auction will take place mid-2027 at the earliest.

The annunciation of the notification was long awaited and well-received by the industry. The Minister of Energy, Terje Asland, stated that the governments offshore wind initiative continues on a steady course forward. Nonetheless, the government remains silent with regard to the process and timeline for the following tender rounds, even though the initial plan was to hold the auction for Utsira Nord a few years ago and that originally two auctions for offshore wind were expected for 2025.  

Utsira Nord was opened for offshore renewable energy production on June 12, 2020. The area is located off the coast of Rogaland and has a water depth of up to 280 meters, which requires development to take place with floating wind power.