The Norwegian offshore wind industry is slated to mark the third wave of building large-scale Norwegian energy industries, after hydropower and oil & gas. The Norwegian government has put a target of 30 GW for offshore wind development by 2040, representing an expected investment of over NOK 600bn (€60bn), once the projects are constructed.
Source Galileo Norge, led by Gunnar Birkeland, CEO, will lead offshore wind developments in the Norwegian sea areas, as they will be released by the Norwegian government over the next 10 years. Source Galileo Norge aims to develop, build, own and operate high quality offshore renewable energy assets.
Source Galileo Norge will be an integral part of the overall business venture of Source Galileo and will lead, from its base in Haugesund, in several important technical areas, as Norway develops its supply side focus for the offshore wind industry. Source Galileo Norge is currently finalising important partnerships in Norway, which will be announced separately.
Gunnar Birkeland, CEO of Source Galileo Norge, has many years of experience in the offshore sector and is the current chairman of the Norwegian Offshore Wind Industry cluster. Gunnar previously led Unitech in its development of offshore cabling for wind and subsea connections in the oil & gas industry and led the operational phase of the world’s first floating offshore wind turbine – Unitech’s Zefyros / Hywind Demo – south of Utsira.
As part of its technology focus, Source Galileo Norge is evaluating a number of floating offshore technologies and also working through a number of green hydrogen offtake solutions in Norway and neighbouring markets like the UK and Ireland.
Gunnar Birkeland, CEO of Source Galileo Norge, commented, “It is an exciting time to step into this leadership role in offshore wind development in Norway, particularly in the floating sector, which can both anchor a large supply side development effort in Norway and mark the third wave of building Norwegian energy industries after hydro power and oil & gas. We look forward to building the team across Norway and developing great projects in the years to come”.
Ingmar Wilhelm, Chairman of Source Galileo, said, “We are delighted to launch the Norwegian development effort and particularly delighted to welcome Gunnar to the team. The Norwegian government’s strategic vision for the offshore wind sector, combined with Gunnar’s sector knowledge and dynamism, makes us confident that we will play a significant role in the energy transition in Norway with substantial positive impacts on the transition in Europe as a whole”.
