Utsira Nord (Area 1 - Equinor/Vargronn)
Located off Utsira island, near Haugesund, in the Norwegian Channel. Extremely deep water (avg 267m) requires floating foundations.
Status
Early Developmentlifecycle stage
ProspectiveHafrok completion outlook
Location
NorwayNorth Sea
Technology
Capacity
500 MW ◆
Turbines
—
Foundation
Floating ◆
Site & conditions
Site rights
Seabed rights held ∴
Origination
Utsira Nord (floating) — area allocation · 2025 ·
Water depth
250–280 m ◆
Distance from shore
30 km ◆
Wind speed
10.2 m/s @ 150 m ≈
Revenue & grid
Offtake
Other ◇
Grid
—
Schedule
FID
Not taken
COD · announced
2035 ◆
COD · Hafrok
2035 expected
Delivery outlook modelled by Hafrok · calibrated on delivered projects
2035
expected year of commercial operation
Chance of delivery
≈54%
estimated chance this project reaches commercial operation
Early Development projects complete ≈61% of the time on Hafrok's record. This one sits well below that: a market with a thinner delivery record, its size and technical complexity. A secured offtake contract helps only slightly.
COD outlook
If it completes, when — Hafrok’s probability by year (teal) · the developer’s COD guidance, by date stated (ink)
| Year | Probability |
|---|---|
| 2034 | 14.1% |
| 2035 (expected) | 28.0% |
| 2036 | 22.7% |
| 2037 | 14.6% |
| 2038 | 8.7% |
| 2039 | 5.1% |
| 2040 | 3.1% |
| 2041 | 1.8% |
| 2042 | 1.1% |
| 2043 | 0.7% |
| Stated | Announced COD |
|---|---|
| 2026-04-15 | 2034 |
| 2026-06-16 | 2035 |
How Hafrok got this date
1
No dated milestone yet
Nothing is consented or financed with a date, so the estimate starts from today (
2026), adds the time similar projects (floating, in developing offshore-wind markets) took from consent to operation, plus an allowance for obtaining consent.2
Earliest credible date
Typical consent-to-operation time plus allowances means commercial operation before
2035 is not credible.3
Result
Expected commercial operation
2035, likely range 2035–2041 (the middle half of outcomes for similar projects). With no milestone to build from, the earliest credible date is the estimate, with a deliberately wide range.4
Year-by-year chart
The bars spread that estimate across years using how similar projects actually slipped against their dates — more often late than early, which is why the bars lean right.
5
Chance of delivery — separate from timing
Start from the share of Early Development projects that went on to complete — ≈61%, measured on Hafrok's record of delivered and abandoned projects, with an allowance held back where that record cannot yet speak (projects still unresolved, changed market conditions). About three in four early-stage projects with a final outcome went on to operate — a record from an easier era. Most of today's early pipeline is still unresolved, so the estimate discounts it. Then adjust for this project's own evidence — offtake, market, size, technical complexity — to ≈54%, which rates it
Prospective on Hafrok's four-step delivery scale (Delivering · Expected · Prospective · Fragile).Project timeline & ownership verified milestones on the spine · ownership from Hafrok’s transactions record
Origination · 2025-12
Utsira Nord (floating) — area allocation
- Awarded to
- Utsira Nord Havvind DA (Equinor + Vårgrønn)
- Basis
- integrated tender
From the auction results — the round that created the project.
JV formation · 2021-05
Equinor · Vårgrønn stake not disclosed
- Stake
- not disclosed
- Consideration
- not disclosed
- Announced
- 2021-05
- Closed
- 2025-12
- Project stage
- early development
Equinor and Vårgrønn signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop floating offshore wind at Utsira Nord, announced 6 May 2021. Vårgrønn is a Norwegian renewable energy company established in November 2020 as a JV between Eni (via Plenitude) and Norwegian private equity firm HitecVision. The Equinor- Vårgrønn consortium submitted its application in September 2025 (the only two applicants were this consortium and Harald Harfagre). The Norwegian Ministry of Energy awarded project area 2 of Utsira Nord to this consortium on 11 December 2025. The project area covers approximately 500 MW of floating wind. No financial consideration for collaboration agreement or area award. The project now enters the impact assessment phase; licence application required within 2 years of EIA programme approval. A state aid auction is planned for 2028-2029 (NOK 35bn maximum; only one of the two Utsira Nord consortia will receive state aid). Announced date reflects the public collaboration agreement; closed date reflects government area award. No financial consideration at any stage.
Evidence
From Hafrok’s transactions record
Dashed tick marks today (9 Sep 2026). The ▲ below the spine is the developer-announced COD. The teal diamond on the spine is origination — the seabed award or round that created the project. Every other ownership event lives in the band below: one station per recorded deal, dated at its label, in deal order rather than to calendar scale. Secondary trades appear only at the interchanges; grey lines are parties whose entry or exit Hafrok’s record does not hold.
Announced COD: slipped so far +1.0 yr (first announced 2034) · the full guidance history is in the delivery chart above
Revenue & offtake route to market — open
No offtake secured — route to market open
State aid competition (NOK 35bn max); one of the two Utsira Nord consortia will win support based on requiring the least state aid. Auction eligibility triggered by submission of konsesjon application. No offtake contracted yet. ◇
The routes describe what exists in this market — not a prediction of which the project will take. Timing math for the auction gate lives in the delivery outlook above.
Installation how the build is going · from satellite counts and Hafrok’s registers
Installation not started
nothing to count yet: the satellite tracker begins when offshore construction does
Installation · on record
StageEarly Development
Offshore constructionnot started
Expected start of operation2035
Construction ports
PortHaugesund ∅
Sources & verification
9/12 fields verified · rests on 6 sources (1 primary) · ◆ 4 documents held
◆Verified≈Modelled◇Sourced∴Inferred⌁Convention○Unverified∅No source·Derived
Numbers are stable citation ids — grouped by source class, so they are not consecutive.
Operator1
[1]
Equinor ASA2026-03◆ Utsira Nord - Equinor
“Utsira Nord Havvind DA is a project company owned by Equinor (65%) and Vårgrønn (35%) […] approximately 500 MW […] annual production of around 2 TWh […] distance to the mainland is approximately 30 km…”
supportsConsentCommercial operationCOD historyTotal capacityFoundation+2 more
Auction pipeline1
[6]
Norwegian Ministry of Energy (regjeringen.no)2026◆ regjeringen-utsira-nord
Utsira Nord — two-stage model; state-aid auction (lowest support wins, ~500 MW, NOK 35bn cap) follows the area allocation after a maturation phase.
supportsUtsira Nord state-support competition
Trade press4
[2]
offshoreWIND.biz2025-12-12◆ Norway's Two Floating Wind Tender Applic…
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsMechanismDetailOfftake history
[3]
Windtech International2025-12-12
Press report — cited, not quoted; read it at the source link.
supportsBackground
[4]
Vargronn2025-12-11◆ Equinor og vargronn tildelt areal for fl…
“Equinor og Vårgrønn er godt fornøyd med at Energidepartementet har tildelt konsortiet et prosjektareal på Utsira Nord.”
supportsowner
[5]