Utsira Nord Will Lead Offshore Wind
Mads Arild Vedøy and Anders Nash explore the Utsira Nord project and Norway's bid to lead in floating offshore wind technology. They discuss the strategic transition from oil and gas, the unique tender process, and the global implications of a successful execution. Learn more about the Utsira Nord bidding process!
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Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining Light on Wind. Energy's brightest innovators. This is the Progress Powering Tomorrow.
Allen Hall 2025: Mads and Anders, welcome to the program.
Anders Nash: Thank you. Thanks Allen, for having us. And, uh, it's a show we listen to a lot. So a pleasure to be with you today.
Allen Hall 2025: Well, we, we have a really interesting subject here, and I want to pick. Both your brains a about the, some of the complexities of floating wind in Norway. And, uh, we know that the floating offshore wind industry is still relatively new and it's actually at a critical juncture.
And even though we have proven that technology works at scale, it's, we, we don't have large development yet. And that is where Norway is stepping in and changing that equation quite radically. Uh. Let's just back up a minute. The project's called OSU Nord, and [00:01:00] if you haven't been paying attention, you've been missing a lot because, uh, floating wind is gonna be the way of the future.
But ultimately, what is the fundamental problem that OSU Nord is trying to solve?
Mads Arild Vedøy: So, of course, uh, node has been kind of on the verge. I, I would say, since the, the, since, at least since 2020, but also even before that with, uh, EOR, uh, launching their, uh, high wind, uh, demo turbine, right? The first world's first floating wind turbine.
And Norway really kind of saw itself as a front runner in, in floating wind. Um, fast forward to 2020. The then government opened these areas for offshore wind in Norway with, um, with uja, nor as one of the bigger floating one, right, one and a half gigawatt of floating wind. And what Norway kind of wants to do is to take a position within this market.[00:02:00]
It and, and more kind of this industrial perspective rather than for the energy production. Right? Because Norway has, uh, we are self-sufficient for now at least. Uh, but with the electrification going on. We will soon run enough that as well. But, but for now, and the predictions going on to, to 2030, we are Okay.
Looking a bit further. It should be, well, the, the surplus is gonna diminish or, or at least be far less than we have. So, yeah. That, that's the, I guess the problem we are trying to solve is, is more the transition from being an. Oil and gas community to, um, also secure the industry for the next phase of energy production, right?
And not only only gas, but also electricity. With Norway, then being this maritime nation and, and seeing ourselves as, as, uh, one of the leaders in, in, [00:03:00] in offshore installations, we, we see that we can take a position as a leading developer of, uh, of floating wind as well.
Joel Saxum: I think it's very interesting, right?
That we, you, we come along this, this train, right? Because like you said, Norway is, you're rife with renewable energies. You guys have a lot of hydro, you're, you're, you're good there. And the PPA prices for that reason are fairly low. Um, comparatively so you, but you have this industrial, marine, industrial complex that a lot of places don't have.
Allen and I have talked about on the podcast many times in the US we have a lot of coastline.
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