By Nora Buli

OSLO (Reuters – Norway has revealed plans to increase offshore wind power by 2040. The goal is for a country which relied heavily on oil and natural gas to become an exporter.

Centre-left government has been criticised by environmentalists for supporting the oil and natural gas industry. It set a goal to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity by 2040.

Jonas Gahr Stoere, Prime Minister of Norway, stated at a news conference that “this would nearly double the power output”.

Norway says that the world needs oil and gas in order to transition to cleaner energy. It believes offshore wind will help it build upon the knowledge of its energy industry.

To develop Norway’s offshore power plants, a wide variety of oil and gas companies and utilities have joined forces, including Equinor (LON), Shell (NYSE:), BP(NYSE:), Orsted,OTC:, Eni.

Norway has a need for more power to meet domestic demand, however the current plan exceeds that of industry and households.

The government stated in a statement that “a significant amount of electricity will be exported into other countries.”

Norway has already opened up two North Sea regions for offshore development of up to 4.5 GW (bottom-fixed) and floating wind. The first tender for 1.5 GW will be made later in the year.

According to the government, licensing rounds for new land will continue at regular intervals starting in 2025.

Grid connections are considered individually and may include hybrid cables that connect to multiple markets simultaneously or single destination cables (so-called radial cable) to Europe and Norway.

A longer-term goal was also requested by industry executives and labour unions, as well as some opposition parties to ensure predictability in supply chain investments in Norway.

Although the domestic energy sector had criticised government actions as slow, it welcomed the new government’s boldness.

The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association stated in a statement that “This will lay a foundation for industrial ocean winds development.”