Norway’s Marine Energy Test Centre (METCentre) was on Thursday awarded final approval for an expansion of its test activities, paving the way for five new floating wind test turbines at the site.
“This will provide valuable learning and knowledge to be utilised at Utsira Nord and other floating wind parks,” Arvid Nesse, chief executive of METCentre and Norwegian Offshore Wind, said in a statement.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy on Thursday upheld a decision by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) to grant a licence for the test centre’s expansion following an assessment of complaints. The licence covers a total installed capacity of up to 82.7 MW.
Currently, there are two test turbines at the centre, Zefyros, originally Hywind Demo, which was installed in 2009, and the TetraSpar Demonstrator, developed by Stiesdal Offshore in partnership with Shell, RWE and TEPCO Renewable Power, which was installed in 2021.
METCentre is developing additional infrastructure scheduled for completion in 2026 to enable it to test a total of seven turbines in rough North Sea conditions. Most of the slots are already booked.
“The METCentre is already doing an important job of testing the technology both for power production itself and for the environment, and with this expansion they can test even more technologies,” said Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland.
