Faroe Islands planning offshore wind farms

SEV, which is the main energy supplier in the Faroe Islands, has revealed plans to build an offshore wind farm near this European island nation’s capital Tórshavn which will be a first for the islands. It is planned to have a capacity of between 96MW and 120MW which will provide a considerable boost to the island’s power generation which currently comes from hydro-electric schemes, onshore wind farms and diesel powered generators.

“The wind farm will replace at least five onshore wind farms that have been planned as part of the green path towards this target of 100 percent sustainable electricity generation by 2030,” a spokesperson for SEV commented. “An offshore wind farm would speed up the transition to sustainable electricity generation,” said Terji Nielsen who is the R&D manager of SEV. ”In recent years, we have experienced delays to at least two of the three planned onshore wind farms. The NIMBY phenomenon is playing a part in these delays.” There have been considerable protests about the development of these onshore wind farms and SEV are considering the development of the offshore farms as a way to overcome these objections

The planned wind farms will be located in the sheltered waters that lie offshore the capital town of Tȏrshavn and the offshore island of Nȏlsoy in the Nȏlsyartførȏor Strait which lies on the eastern side of the main island. The project will be a joint venture between Faroese energy providers and various businesses and individuals. The next step in the development of the project will be securing the necessary permits and licenses, assessing the environmental impact, and performing all the necessary surveys before entering the development and engineering stage. If all goes as planned, the first Faroese offshore wind farm is expected to be commissioned and operational by late 2025 SEV said.