Undergoing planning
Power from shore projects in the planning phase
In recent years, projects undergoing planning for conversion to power from shore are less profitable and more challenging to implement as compared with green-lighted projects. Therefore, several projects have been discarded. Only one project remains in the planning stage.
In this chapter:
- Major modifications in connection with transitioning to power from shore
- Challenging to achieve profitability
- Several projects have been discarded
As of October 2025, there is only one project where a transition to power from shore is planned, namely the area solution on Balder and Grane. This project includes transitioning to partial operations with power from shore, combined with accelerated gas production for the Grane field.
The decision to concretise this project was made in the first half of 2024. Since then, the licensees have been working on more detailed studies to clarify the best concept. The concept selection is scheduled for late autumn 2025 and a potential investment decision in late 2026.
According to the mandate, the report shall cover any new power from shore projects reported in autumn 2024 where a decision to concretise has yet to be made. There are no such new projects.
There have been multiple projects in the planning phase in recent years. Studied projects have turned out to be more complex and yield lower profitability than previous power from shore projects. With the exception of the project on Balder/Grane, these projects have been discarded. In the rest of this chapter, we will examine developments in these projects in more detail.
Major modifications in connection with transitioning to power from shore
An existing facility must be modificated to install power from shore. Refitting existing facilities is usually much more expensive than setting up a new field with power from shore.
Among other things, the costs and work involved in refitting depend on how much equipment needs to be replaced on the facilities. The easiest method is to replace the gas turbines that supply electricity to the facilities. It is more complicated and more expensive to replace gas turbines that run direct-driven equipment like gas compressors. This is why many fields are only partially electrified. The distance to shore also has an impact on the cost level.
Transitions to power from shore on producing fields must take place while the plant is operational. The number of beds, space and weight capacity for equipment are often limited. If the work requires a temporary production shutdown or chartering a flotel to increase the number of beds, this increases the costs. For more details about power from shore technology, see Chapter 3 of the 2020 report.
Challenging to achieve profitability
The most profitable power from shore projects have already been approved. As the CO2 cost has increased, the companies have evaluated and approved multiple power from shore projects.
In the most recently approved projects (Melkøya and Njord/Draugen), the operator's estimated abatement cost was just under NOK 2000 per tonne of CO2 (2025-NOK). The Storting's decision to increase the CO2 cost leading up to 2030 contributed to the approval of these projects. Read more about the CO2 tax and the profitability of power from shore projects in Chapter 3 .
What the projects that have been in the planning phase in recent years have in common is that they have had a higher cost level than already approved projects.
Estimated abatement costs at the decision to concretise (BOK) are uncertain. As a project matures and passes the various project milestones of BOK, BOV and PDO, the estimates become more precise. More detailed studies and analyses provide a better basis for cost estimates. Experience indicates that cost estimates are more likely to increase from BOK to PDO than the opposite.
Several of the power from shore projects that have been studied have increased their cost estimates since BOK. This is due to a better understanding of the scope of work. Recent years have also seen a general cost increase that has further affected the cost estimates.
Several projects have been discarded
Several plans to transition to power from shore have been changed over the past few years. For technical and economic reasons, the licensees have stopped projects or reduced their scope.
In 2024, work was discarded on the effort to fully electrify Troll B and further electrification of the Oseberg Field Centre. The same year, the area solution on Tampen, which then consisted of the Visund, Snorre and Gullfaks fields, was scaled back in scope and power need. The electrification of Visund was cancelled.
There were also changes in projects reported in autumn 2024. In the first half of 2025, the licensees decided to cancel work on connecting Skarv to an area solution on the Halten Bank, which then consisted of the Skarv, Kristin, Åsgard and Heidrun fields. The project was no longer considered profitable. For the same reason, the licensees in the Greater Ekofisk Area stopped work on connecting to the wind farm planned by Ventyr in Sørlige Nordsjø II.
On Tampen, the licensees decided to discard the project that included partial electrification of Gullfaks. The project on Snorre was also scaled back. The schedules for the remaining projects on the Halten Bank, Tampen and Balder/Grane were also delayed.
In October 2025, Equinor sent a letter to the Ministry of Energy recommending stopping all work on electrification of the Halten Bank and Tampen. The stated reason was that the abatement cost had become too high.
In other words, of the projects reported to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate in connection with RNB reporting in autumn 2024, only one project is still in the planning phase, namely power from shore to Balder/Grane.
The Balder/Grane project includes transitioning to partial operations with power from shore, combined with accelerated gas production for the Grane field. This project will use shared infrastructure with a substation at Haugalandet/Gismarvik, a power cable to a new platform on the Grane field and power cables from there to Jotun and Ringhorne on the Balder field. The emissions can be reduced by about 380,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. A potential investment decision is planned for the end of 2026. Planned start-up is in 2032.