Major wind research centre kicks off its activities

The centre's research is divided into five work packages, whose leaders gave short presentations outlining their objectives for the next few years. The centre aims at making wind energy cheaper, more efficient and more sustainable. One of its main areas of focus is offshore wind research.

Centre leader and chief scientist at SINTEF, John Olav Tande, says that large cost reductions are within reach for both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind energy, but that these cost reductions won't come automatically. "The road to success in offshore wind depends on three factors: development, research and innovation. All three have to be present." NorthWind will guarantee progress on the research and innovation fronts. The development part of the equation received a welcome boost last week, when the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced plans to enable the large-scale development of offshore wind.

NorthWind brings together over 50 partners from research institutions and industry all around the world. It is led by the research institute SINTEF, with partners NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), NINA (The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research), NGI (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute) and UiO (University of Oslo).

NorthWind is co-financed by its partners and by the Norwegian government through the Norwegian Research Council's Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research program.