Norway's government will build a large-scale offshore wind power farm in the North Sea and hopes to have the first turbines up by 2030.

As the largest oil producer in Western Europe, Norway will launch a public tender aimed at building the first phase of a wind project in the southern waters of the North Sea.

"This is about ensuring access to clean and cheap energy. This is a reminder of the situation we find ourselves in," says prime minister Jonas Gahr Store, referring to high electricity prices in Europe.

With a capacity of 1,500 megawatts (MW), the first phase of the field, called Sorlige Nordsjo II, will be reserved for domestic consumption, with the government explicitly excluding the laying of cables for export – which the sector deemed as a necessary condition for profitability.

The field is expected to cover the electricity consumption of 460,000 homes with the first fixed-bottom turbines  to be built "in the second half" of the decade.

Later, a second phase of the project, with a similar capacity, could be connected to the European continent, but this will depend on a study by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE).

Norwegian Oil and Gas, the organisation representing the oil companies and often the ones who are developers of wind power projects, has  welcomed the "necessary clarifications" made by the government, but also criticised it for scaling down its ambitions by splitting the wind farm into two phases. The government defended itself by saying that the split would speed up the start of the project.

Norwegian Oil and Gas also said it was "surprised" that it had not been heard on the need for a cable to the European continent, which it said would have enabled the project to go ahead without public subsidies.