Sea-based wind parks off Norway could generate large amounts of energy for export to the European Union with investments totaling up to $44 billion by 2025, a report indicated on Monday.

"Norway has a very large potential to produce wind power offshore," according to a 30-page report by the country's Energy Council, comprising officials and business leaders.

It said that green exports from Norway, the world's number five oil exporter, could help the European Union towards a goal of obtaining 20 percent of its electricity by 2020 from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro and wave power.

"Norway ought to have access to up to 40 terrawatt hours of renewable energy in 2020-2025, of which about half would come from offshore wind power," it said, mapping out a shift towards renewable energy to help fight climate change.

It said sufficient wind parks -- totaling 5,000 to 8,000 megawatts installed capacity -- would cost between 100 billion Norwegian and 220 billion Norwegian crowns ($43.89 billion) assuming prices of 20-28 million crowns per installed megawatt.

The energy would be equivalent to up to about eight nuclear power plants. Norway pumps about 2.2 million barrels of oil per day -- $44 billion represents the value of about half a year's output.

Such a shift towards green exports could be huge shift for Norway, which often has to import power since its traditional hydro-power dams lag demand, especially in dry years.

The report said that Norway still needed effective laws and rules, competitive subsidies and more infrastructure.

It said that Denmark, Germany and Britain had done much more to develop wind power, both on land and in shallow waters, but that Norway had experience of deeper waters with offshore oil and gas.

"Sea based wind power is the area with the greatest potential to reach the EU's energy target," it said. Norway is not a member of the EU after twice voting "No" in referendums.

Oil and Energy Minister Aaslaug Haga said offshore wind parks -- which would stop on calm days -- could be combined with Norway's hydro-power generators which can be turned on and off.

"Norwegian water reservoirs can be 'Europe's battery' because we sit on almost half the reservoir capacity in Europe," she wrote in the daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

StatoilHydro said last week that it will invest $80 million to build the world's first full-scale floating wind turbine to start up in 2009. Such turbines are now far more expensive than on land.

And Norway's offshore oil and gas platforms, which use large amounts of fossil fuel in their generators, could be powered in future by renewable energy such as floating windmills.

The Energy Council report said that 40 terrawatt hours of electricity from renewable sources could cut Norway's heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions -- which rose to 55 million tonnes in 2007 -- by 20 million.