First Ever Oil And Gas Platforms To Be Powered By A Floating Offshore Wind Farm – Equinor

First Ever Oil And Gas Platforms To Be Powered By A Floating Offshore Wind Farm – Equinor

The decision of investment for the development of the Hywind Tampen offshore wind farm has been made by Equinor and the Snorre and Gullfaks partners. Two updates plans for the development and operation was submitted yesterday to the Norwegian Authorities.

The oil and gas platform will be the first-ever that will be powered by a floating offshore wind farm. The location of the wind farm is about 140 kilometers away from the shore in 260-300 metered of water between the platforms of Snorre and Gullfaks.

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“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. 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 the Norwegian industry,” says Eldar Sætre, chief executive officer of Equinor.

A total of around NOK 5 billion will be the investment of the Hywind Tampen. A funding commitment has been made by the Norwegian authorities of about NOK 2.3 billion through Enova. The NOx Fund of the Business Sector will also support by giving NOK 566 million.

Based on the Hywind Technology that was developed by Equinor, 11 wind turbines will be there on the wind farms. The total capacity of the 8MW turbines will be 88 MW which has capacity of fulfilling around 35 percent of the annual demand for power of the five Snorre A and B, Gullfaks A, B and C platforms.

“The pioneering Hywind Tampen project will help cut emissions from Gullfaks and Snorre. We are driving a transition aimed to sustain and add value on the Norwegian continental shelf while reducing the carbon footprint from our operations,” says Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Development & Production Norway.

The reduction in the use of gas turbines in the field, about 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emission reduction can be done per year which is equal to the emissions from 100,000 passenger cars annually.

“The authorities’ consent to extending the productive life of the Gullfaks field to 2036 and the Snorre field to 2040, up to 20 years longer than when the fields were initially planned, has been essential to realizing the Hywind Tampen project,” says Nylund.

The study that was performed by Multiconsult says that 1500 to 3000 man years will be generated through the productive life of the field for the industry of Norway by the Hywind Tampen project. The most number of spin-offs will be generated in the development phase of the project.

The Hywind Tampen which will be operated from the Bergen office of Equinor is scheduled to come on stream in late 2022. The assembly of the floating wind turbines for the Hywind Tampen will be done in Gulen Industrihamn before it is transported to the field that is in the North Sea.

Submission of a plan for development and operation

The press was also given an invitation to the event of PDO handover that was held on the 11th of October at the main entrance of the Equinor’s office at Fornebu.

Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister was present. The PDO’s was handed over by the Executive vice presidents Pål Eitrheim and Arne Sigve Nylund on the partner’s behalf.

Reference: Equinor