Equinor will submit final investment plans today to the Norwegian authorities for the €500m, 88MW Hywind Tampen floating wind project off the country’s coast.
Norwegian authorities through Enova have already made a funding commitment of up to €230m for the Hywind Tampen project.
In addition, the Business Sector’s NOx Fund has decided to support the project by up to €56m.
The wind farm will be located some 140 kilometres from shore in 260-300 metres of water between the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas platforms.
According to Equinor, Snorre and Gullfaks will be the world’s first oil and gas platforms powered by floating offshore wind.
The wind farm (illustrated) will consist of 11 turbines based on the Hywind technology developed by Equinor.
The 8MW turbines are capable of meeting about 35% of the annual power demand of the five Snorre A and B, Gullfaks A, B and C platforms.
Reducing the use of gas turbines on the fields will cut carbon emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes per year, Equinor claimed.
Gulen Industrihamn in western Norway has been chosen for the assembly of the floating wind turbines for Hywind Tampen before being transported to the field in the North Sea.
Scheduled to come on stream in late 2022, Hywind Tampen will be operated from Equinor’s Bergen office.
“We have been systematically maturing technologies for floating offshore wind for almost 20 years. The decision by the Snorre and Gullfaks partners helps bring this technology an important step forward,” said Equinor chief executive officer Eldar Saetre.
“About 80% 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 more sustainable global energy supply. This brings substantial opportunities for Norwegian industry,” he added.