Equinor Makes FID on Floating Offshore Wind Farm in Norway

Equinor has made an FID for the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm development in Norway.

Equinor has announced that it has, along with the Snorre and Gullfaks partners, made a final investment decision (FID) for the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm development in Norway.

The Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas platforms which are operated by Equinor with partners will be the first-ever powered by a floating offshore wind farm. The wind farm will be located some 140 kilometres from shore in 260-300 metres of water between the platforms.

Eldar Sætre, chief executive officer of Equinor said that the firm has been systematically maturing technologies for floating offshore wind for almost 20 years. And that the decision by the Snorre and Gullfaks partners helps bring this technology an important step forward.

“About 80 percent of the global resource potential for offshore wind is in deep waters, and floating offshore wind may play an important part in the energy transition towards a more sustainable global energy supply. This brings substantial opportunities for Norwegian industry,” he said.

The Hywind Tampen investments will total almost NOK 5 billion (USD 550 million). Norwegian authorities through Enova have made a funding commitment of up to NOK 2.3 billion for the Hywind Tampen project. In addition, the Business Sector’s NOx Fund has decided to support the project by up to NOK 566 million.

The wind farm will consist of 11 wind turbines based on the Hywind technology developed by Equinor. The 8 MW turbines will have a total capacity of 88 MW, capable of meeting about 35 percent of the annual power demand of the five Snorre A and B, Gullfaks A, B and C platforms. By reducing the use of gas turbines on the fields the project helps cut CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to the annual emissions from 100,000 passenger cars.

Scheduled to come on stream in late 2022 Hywind Tampen will be operated from Equinor’s Bergen office.