Norway Plans Wind Energy Bonanza

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Norway is set for a boom in wind power following the government's approval for projects with a combined generating capacity of 1,300 megawatts (MW).

Permission has been granted by the country's Ministry for Petroleum and Energy for eight onshore windfarms to be constructed around the city Trondheim and surrounding fjord areas of Fosen and Snillfjord. The windfarms are expected to be able to generate enough electricity for approximately 185,000 homes and will almost triple Norway's current wind energy capacity of 775 MW.

"This is a historic day for Norwegian wind power production, and will constitute a significant part of Norway's renewable initiatives," said Petroleum and Energy Minister, Ola Borten Moe, talking to media. "I think such a concentrated development is important to reduce any disturbance rather than a scattered development."

The projects will boast around 450 turbines between them and will cost an estimated 2.5 billion ($3.32 billion) to construct. The three energy companies involved in the projects are SAE Vind DA (Oslo, Norway), Sarepta Energi AS (Steinkjer, Norway), and Zephyr AS (Sarpsborg, Norway). SAE Vind will half of the projects itself, including Storheia (220 MW) and Kvenndalsfjellet (120 MW) in the municipalities Åfjord and Ashford in Fosen, and windfarms Svarthammaren (150 MW) and Geitfjellet (170 MW) in Snillfjord. Final investment decisions will be taken in 2015 with the first of the new windfarms to be commissioned sometime in 2018.

"We are extremely pleased to have been licensed for these projects - SAE Wind has developed them in close cooperation with local authorities for a very long time," stated Anders Gaudestad, CEO of SAE Wind.

Norway is already Europe's leading renewable energy nation, generating approximately 95% of its electricity from hydropower schemes.

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