Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, has launched a support program for floating wind projects which can be awarded up to $188 million (€175 million) in funding assistance.
Enova’s support for wind started with the development of onshore wind power, which now stands on its own in the market. Enova’s support programs now focus on technology development for offshore wind, particularly for floating solutions.
The program supports projects aimed at maturing technology and solutions in the final stages of development, as well as testing and verifying the interaction and performance of systems that integrate multiple technologies and solutions.
The scheme is open to commercial entities, public entities, or consortia. In consortia, all participants must be co-financiers and active participants. The entity submitting the application will, in all cases, be the project responsible party upon entering into a contract with Enova.
In March, developer Source Galileo Norge secured $188 million (€175 million) funding from Enova for their floating project GoliatVind.
Manager of METCentre and Norwegian Offshore Wind, Arvid Nesse, believes that this support scheme will lead to development of new technology and cost reduction in the industry.
METCentre on the West Coast of Norway will serve as a test site for those projects that receive the Enova support and can be a valuable resource in the application process.
“To succeed with the government’s ambitious targets for offshore wind, we need to have projects in the water as early as possible. We must build as much hands-on experience as possible regarding technology, cost reduction and optimalization of supply chain,” said Nesse.
Deadline for applications is September 13, 2024.