Updated deadlines for UN and SNII and pre-qualification criteria for offshore wind (Norway)

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) and the Norwegian Government announced on 17 October 2023 that the previously postponed deadlines for applying for pre-qualification in the licensing process within Utsira Nord (UN) and Sørlige Nordsjø II, Phase I (SNII) set to 1 November 2023 will be further delayed.

The primary reason for such postponement is that the Norwegian State needs to obtain state aid pre-approval from ESA related to the development of offshore projects within UN and SNII, cf. the guidelines on state aid for climate, environmental protection and energy (CEEAG from 2022).

To avoid any further delays in the process of allocating the areas, the MPE also announced that the following amendments will be made to the original offshore tenders for both areas:

SNII

• Deadline postponed to 15 November 2023 (with 14 days from 1 November)
• The MPE maintains that the auction / allocation of offshore wind area may still take place within February 2024, provided no further delays
• The MPE has proposed to amend the pre-qualification criteria related to “sustainability” and “positive ripple effects” to minimum requirements that must be fulfilled for participants in the competition (to be included in the CfD). The criteria “sustainability” and “positive ripple effects” will thus no longer be pre-qualification requirements, including that participants will no longer be compared within these two categories
• The pre-qualification criteria ”positive local ripple effects” is amended to “positive ripple effects”, to clarify that ripple effects are not limited to Norway

UN

• Deadline postponed to unknown date, likely within Q1 2024, the MPE will revert as soon as possible with a new deadline
• Due to the complex floating offshore wind projects and allocation of areas based on qualitative criteria, including to ensure that a competition on state aid may take place at a later stage than the allocation in connection with the licensing process, the MPE emphasizes the importance of pre-clarity and discussions with ESA and the European Commission

See link to the MPE's press release, cf. the Government's announcement on its web page (only available in Norwegian):

Oppdatert utlysning for havvind i Sørlige Nordsjø II og Utsira Nord - regjeringen.no