STORY / PUBLIC SOURCE RECORD
Around the world with Team Norway: UK leading the way in offshore wind
- Published 6 January 2025; updated 30 September 2026; estimated reading time 4 minutes. Innovation Norway UK and Ireland business developer Mari Mogstad Eri describes the UK as Europe’s largest offshore-wind market and the world’s second largest at the time. The industry began more than 20 years earlier; the article says the UK then held over 40% of European offshore-wind capacity and annual generation could meet the equivalent of 50% of UK households’ use. It cites a 125 GW installed-capacity need by 2050 to support the UK’s net-zero target.
- Development areas include East Anglia, northeast England, the Celtic Sea, Scotland and islands near Shetland/Orkney. Hull, Grimsby and Newcastle are identified as industrial hubs; Equinor is cited as a major developer in several regions. The article says government allocated project locations in 2000 and 2003 and has maintained policy support.
- The UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) programme, launched in 2013 with its first auction in 2015, is described as reducing investment risk and renewable-energy costs. Allocation Round 6 awarded contracts for 5.4 GW of offshore wind. The article names Vargrønn and Flotation Energy as partners in the 560 MW Greenvolt floating-wind project near Aberdeen. It says Norwegian companies span the supply chain and often partner locally, in line with UK local-value targets; Innovation Norway’s London office supports those partnerships.
- UK–Norway collaboration also includes research. ORE Catapult, described as established in 2003, has a Blyth facility near Newcastle where Norwegian companies have participated. The article sees further research collaboration potential due to overlapping capabilities.
- Challenges include inflation, investment economics and progressively more complex/expensive sites. The article expects fixed-bottom turbines to remain dominant while floating wind grows as technology matures, and says Norwegian offshore-oil-and-gas experience supports its technology and services.
- Contact: Mari Mogstad Eri, Senior Business Developer, Innovation Norway UK and Ireland, Mari.Mogstad.Eri@innovationnorway.no. Non-exhaustive list mirrors the page’s supplier categories: developers (Deep Wind Offshore, Equinor, Statkraft); engineering (Kongstein, Moreld Apply, Multiconsult); geosurvey (GeoProvider, NGI, Shearwater, TGS); foundations (Aker Solutions); subsea (Deep Ocean, 4Subsea, Reach Subsea, Saga Subsea); substations (Aibel); cables (Nexans, Prysmian Norway, Wirescan); operations/maintenance (Axess, Cranemaster, Energy Innovation, IKM, NorSea); communications (Tampnet); SCADA (Goodtech, Kongsberg, Origo Solutions, Shoreline); sensors (ScanSense); surveillance (Kongsberg Norcontrol, Spoor); logistics (Bring); vessels (DOF, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, Eidesvik, Edda Wind, Havfram, Integrated Wind Solutions, Seaway7, Solstad Offshore); ship design/building (LMG Marin, Skipsteknisk, VARD, Ugland, Ulstein, Umoe); and technology ventures (Nekkar, Odfjell Oceanwind, Wind Catching, Windsteel Technologies, World Wide Wind). Linked solutions include Vissim, KONGSTEIN and MacGregor. Related industries: Energy and Offshore wind.