Norway to ramp up offshore wind in drive to go green
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The centre-left government, which has come under fire from environmentalists for continuing to support the oil and gas industry, set a target to develop 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2040.
"This would nearly double our power output," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.
A wide range of utilities, oil and gas firms and engineering companies have lined up to develop offshore power projects in
"A significant portion of the electricity will be exported to other countries," the government said in a statement.
To date,
Licensing rounds for new acreage will be held at regular intervals from 2025 onwards, the government said.
Grid connections would be considered on a case by case basis and could feature hybrid cables, which connect to several markets at the same time, or direct cables to single destinations, so-called radial cables, to
Industry executives, labour unions and some opposition parties had also called for a longer-term target to help provide predictability for supply chain investments in
The domestic energy industry, which had criticised the government for moving too slowly, welcomed the government's ambition.
"This will lay the foundation for industrial ocean wind development," the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association said in a statement.
(Reporting by