Norway proposes to open two new areas in the North Sea with the potential to hold installed capacity of up to 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind, as Western Europe’s largest oil producer aims to use its offshore oil and gas expertise to boost the wind power exports of Norwegian companies. Before the end of the summer, Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy will propose the opening of an area, Utsira Nord, off its west coast in the North Sea, for offshore wind development, the ministry said on Tuesday. Utsira Nord could hold installed offshore wind turbines with a combined capacity of between 500 MW and 1.5 GW. The ministry will also request input and comments on the possibility to open a second area, Sørlige Nordsjø II (Southern North Sea II), which could hold offshore wind capacity of between 1 GW and 2 GW. Southern North Sea II is […]