Norwegian court invalidates licences of wind farms within 1-GW cluster

The Norwegian Supreme Court has annulled the licences of two wind farms within the roughly 1-GW Fosen Vind complex in central Norway due to a conflict with the rights of local reindeer herders.

The invalidation of the operating licence and expropriation permit concerns the 288-MW Storheia and the 255.6-MW Roan wind parks, the court announced on Monday. The ruling was issued after a unanimous decision that the construction of the two power plants had significant consequences on the Sami reindeer herders' ability to graze and thus violated their right to enjoy their own culture.

The court case was centred on whether the construction of Storheia and Roan interfered with the rights of reindeer husbandry groups to cultural practice under UN conventions. The ruling states that winter pastures near the two sites are “lost” and the reindeer industry's existence on Fosen Peninsula will be threatened unless remedial measures are implemented.

The licence for the two wind farms was initially granted back in 2010 and both plants were switched on in 2019. Fosen Vind DA, a joint venture between Statkraft, TronderEnergi and Nordic Wind Power DA, is the original developer of the Fosen cluster and main owner of Storheia.

Roan, which was pulled out of the cluster earlier this year, is now majority-owned by TronderEnergi and German municipal utility Stadtwerke Munchen.

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