East of England and Norway team up on offshore wind

Kevin Keable, chair of EEEGR, and Alfred Risan, leader of the UK Working Group in Norwegian Offshore Wind. PHOTO: Denise Bradley
by Arne Vatnøy
Communication manager

East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) and Norwegian Offshore Wind (NOW) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen collaboration between the supply chains in Norway and the East of England.

The agreement was signed at SNS2024 – The Energy Ecosystem in Norwich this week. 

East of England Energy Group and Norwegian Offshore Wind both focus on developing world leading supply chains in offshore wind. These two organisations share the North Sea and have different strengths that will create valuable synergies. Norwegian Offshore Wind sees UK as the most attractive offshore wind market in Europe and has set up a dedicated working group to get their members into the UK projects.

-East of England is one of the major offshore wind hubs in the largest market in Europe. With the North Sea as a common sea basin with Norway, it will certainly benefit our members to strengthen the collaboration with the industry in this region, says Arvid Nesse, manager of Norwegian Offshore Wind, representing close to 400 member companies. 

East of England has emerged as one the main offshore wind hubs in the UK. Several of the large developers such as Scottish Power Renewables, RWE and Orsted are located in the region with large offshore wind projects such as Norfolk and East Anglia under development.  Furthermore, this region is home to a strong supply chain, and Port of Great Yarmouth is the installation base for Norfolk offshore Wind zone and O&M base for Dudgeon and Sheringham shoal. 

-For us this MoU is a two-way street, also opening doors for UK companies targeting the Norwegian offshore wind market, says Alfred Risan leader for NOW’s working group for the UK. 

Norway has impressive ambitions in offshore wind. The government has set a target of 30 GW by 2040. Norway held the first auction earlier this year where Ventyr was awarded the Southern North Sea II area. The area has the potential of 1.5GW capacity. The next auctions are due in 2025, and 70 percent of the areas mapped as suitable for offshore wind will be floating. 

 

This could be really important for our members to access the opportunity to find business in Norway

Kevin Keable, Chair of EEEGR

East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) is located in Norfolk. It represents around 200 members across four counties in England and every energy sector – wind, gas, nuclear, solar, geothermal and more. They work closely with education providers, local authorities and government. 

Kevin Keable, Chair of EEEGR, said: “This could be really important for our members to access the opportunity to find business in Norway, using skills and techniques developed in our region. We hope that our members can forge profitable and rewarding partnerships with our Norwegian neighbours.”

-With pooling the resources and capabilities in the two countries in areas such as early development, balance of plants, fabrication, installation and O&M that will create strong synergies and commercial opportunities, says Alfred Risan, who is heading up the industry-led working group for UK in Norwegian Offshore Wind. 

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