Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 180
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2. THE OFFSHORE WIND
PROMOTION SYSTEM
The Norwegian state holds the rights to use
– and license – wind energy within territorial
waters and the Norwegian continental shelf.
Therefore, any exploitation of such energy
by an offshore wind farm developer requires
a license from the Norwegian state issued
by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. In
Norway, the main rule is that these licenses
shall be awarded through an open tender
process.
The Norwegian tender process under the
Norwegian Offshore Energy Act consists of
the following main stages:
(a) An area must be opened for a licensing
process related to offshore energy production.
(b) Once an area has been opened for the
licensing process, it is typically divided
into smaller bidding areas. These areas
are then announced for competition.
The announcement supplies more
detailed information about the specific
bidding areas, including pre-qualification
requirements, documentation requirements, and any other allocation criteria.
(c) If the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy
sets up a pre-qualification requirement,
applicants must be pre-qualified to take
part in the award process. The pre-qualification requirements and the deadline
for giving necessary documents will be
specified in the announcement.
Norway
(d) For pre-qualified applicants, the next
step is to compete for the allocation of
exclusive rights to the bidding areas,
which include exclusive rights to perform
environmental impact assessments and
apply for a license for a bidding area. The
competition will typically be conducted
through either a monetary auction (e.g.,
Sørlige Nordsjø II), or a competition
based on qualitative criteria (e.g., Utsira
Nord).
(e) Once the areas are awarded, the applicant must conduct project-specific
environmental impact assessments, develop their projects apply for licenses for
offshore energy production. Once the
project-specific assessment program
is set up, developers have two years to
conduct the assessments and submit a
license application.
(f) Subsequently, no later than two years after the license is granted, the developer
must prepare a detailed plan for approval by the Norwegian Water Resources
and Energy Directorate (NVE).
(g) After approval of the detailed plan, the
licensee has three years to construct the
project and reach commencement of
operations. Licenses are granted for up
to 30 years from the start of the facility’s
operation. The license period can be
extended upon application from the
licensee.
