Energy Planning Legal Requirements and Offshore Wind in Norway

Abstract

This chapter looks at the legal requirements applicable to energy planning for offshore wind development under Norwegian law. The licensing process for offshore wind has barely started in Norway and the legislation still needs to be supplemented in order to be made operational. So far there are very limited references to planning requirements, at both the energy system and infrastructure level, and different political signals have been given by the previous and current government concerning who will be in charge of planning the offshore grid development. This certainly argues for a step-by-step approach, but, with high EU and national targets, there is also a need for coordination with neighbouring countries around the North Sea when developing the offshore grid on the Norwegian continental shelf. Several grid planning and operational coordination processes with these countries and the EU are already established, either at the level of the governments or the transmission system operators.

Keywords: energy law, energy planning, energy system, grid planning, offshore wind, transmission system operator, Norway, North Sea, EU law