Use Case 3 – Norway – Wendy Project

General Information

Type: Offshore wind energy, floating and fixed
Location: Norway
Pilot Representative: Norwegian Offshore Wind (NOWC), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)

Brief Description

Hywind Tampen:: The world's largest floating offshore wind farm constructed by Equinor became operational in 2022. Hywind Tampen consists of 11 8MW turbines and is intended to provide electricity for the Snorre and Gullfaks offshore oil and gas platforms in the Norwegian North Sea.
Utsira Nord and Sørlige Nordsjø II:: Two offshore areas for renewable energy production, Utsira Nord (floating, ca. 1500 MW) and Sørlige Nordsjø II (bottom-fixed, ca. 3000 MW), are opened for allocation and licensing process in 2023.

These three cases will enable to examine the licensing process and consideration of the social and natural environment, both from a retrospective versus prospective as well as bottom-fixed versus floating perspective.

Challenges to be addressed

The challenge for these cases is that they are far offshore, where few data is available on important ecosystem components (e.g., effects of noise on fish and whales, collisions of seabirds and migratory birds). How EIAs will be performed to take good account of environmental risk is yet unclear. This may in turn fuel social conflicts.

Targets

Biodiversity impact: This pilot will contribute to an improved and integrated assessment of the natural environment, including reaching societal consensus among spatially explicit values.

Social engagement: The ConSite tool stimulates transparency of the licensing and planning process enhances democratic processes through active stakeholder dialogue and knowledge input.

Replication Potential

Showcasing the implementation of the ConSite tool, stimulates its uptake and replication potential. Especially given that the workflow will be described in a practical ‘cookbook’.