Haugesund's Cinderella moment in floating offshore wind?

When visiting Haugesund in Norway recently, for Norwegian Offshore Wind's floating wind festival, I dined with a local. He told me that Haugesund had, in recent years, suffered from being "the bit in the middle - the Cinderella", in relation to maritime powerhouse Bergen (three hours up the west coast) and the hydrocarbon capital Stavanger (two hours down it). With a population of around 38,000 people, Haugesund's population is just 13% and 25% of Norway's second and third cities, respectively. Its region Haugaland gave birth to the name Norway (which means Northbound Route), and notable resident King Harald Fairhair gave us a modern descriptor. But many of its most notable people are those who emigrated  to the USA, when the herring boom ended, including the paternal grandfather of Marilyn Monroe (from where her birth name Mortensen originates).

The author taking the plunge, before the sauna, at Floating Wind Days, Haugesund, May 2025.

Modern Haugesund has benefited from the discovery of oil and gas under the North Sea, however, albeit not as broadly as Bergen and Stavanger. In the 1960s the century-old firm Aibel established a foothold in the design of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, and more recently a dominant position in offshore converter stations for the offshore wind industry, which it originates in its yard in Thailand before completion in its yard clearly visible from Haugesund town centre (see photo below).  

An offshore wind converter platform nearing completion at Aibel's yard in Haugesund, with statue of Marilyn Monroe (née Mortensen)

Haugesund later became the site of the Marine Energy Test Centre (METCenter) offshore wind test centre, and this became home to two important floating wind turbine demonstrators: the Hywind Demonstrator (now Zefyros) and the Stiesdahl TetraSpar demo.

Moving ahead of 2025, and there are clear signs that Haugesund is about to benefit from growth in floating offshore wind, and Cinderella might be off to ball. Firstly, METCenter has awarded two floating wind demonstration berths to new turbines: Akido's AO60 and Odfjell's SCALEWIND. Secondly, on 19 May the Norwegian government relaunched the Utsira Nord floating wind leasing round, which will feature three 500MW windfarms. Utsira island, for which the round is named, is a short ferry ride from Haugesund. The soon-to-be-expanded Haugesund Subsea and Offshore Base, owned by Karmsund Port Authority, is situated on Karmøy, the island that separates Haugesund from Utsira.

Much like the Celtic Sea region of South Wales and South West England, and it planned three 1.5GW floating wind sites, the Utsira Nord leasing round will likely propel Haugesund, from an area already used to floating wind demonstrators - to one used to complex commercial windfarms.

It seems that its Cinderella moment has arrived - and the shoe most certainly fits.