Sian Crampsie
Statkraft, TrønderEnergi and the European investor consortium Nordic Wind Power DA have announced plans to build 1000 MW of onshore wind energy capacity in central Norway.
The project will comprise six wind farms that together will become the largest onshore wind project in Europe. The development consortium will invest a combined €1.1 billion in the project, which is due to be completed in 2020.
In a statement, Statkraft said that construction would start in the second quarter of 2016. The wind farms will be built on the Fosen peninsula, on the island of Hitra, and in Snillfjord.
Together the six project will more than double Norway’s current installed wind power capacity. Statkraft will have a 52.1 per cent stake in Fosen Vind DA, which will own the wind farms, and will also have responsibility for project execution in the construction phase.
TrønderEnergi will own 7.9 per cent of Fosen Vind, while Nordic Wind Power will own 40 per cent.
The project is a revised version of the smaller Fosen-Snillfjord wind project, development of which was terminated in 2015 because of concerns over its commercial viability.
The owners of Fosen-Snillfjord later brought in Statkraft and reassessed the design of the project to improve its economics.
The first delivery of turbines is scheduled for 2018. The project will use 278 Vestas wind turbines of 3.6 MW capacity.
