The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has approved support from the Norwegian government for Equinor’s 88MW Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Norway.
The authority monitors compliance with the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, enabling those countries to participate in the EU’s internal market.
Norway, through the state enterprise Enova, has decided to grant Nkr2.3bn (€211bn) to Equinor and its partners OMV, Petoro, Idemitsu, DEA and Var Energi to realise the Hywind Tampen project.
The money covers around 43% of the project’s investment costs.
ESA president Bente Angell-Hansen said: “ESA finds that aid to the project is compatible with EEA state aid rules that aim to promote environmental protection as the positive environmental benefits outweigh the negative effects on competition.”
It added that the goal of the project is to reduce emissions from oil and gas production and in other sectors, and to pave the way for development of floating wind farms as a competitive energy resource globally.
The European Green Deal considers increase in offshore wind power production essential for the clean energy transition, the ESA said.
Hywind Tampen will feature 11 8MW turbines and is due online in 2022.
It will replace energy generated by gas turbines with electricity from floating wind turbines located between the Snorre and Gullfaks fields.