Norway Okays Equinor’s Floating Wind Farm Plan

The Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Industry has provided its go-ahead for the Equinor’s plan to develop and operate its Hywind Tampen wind farm.

Now, the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms will be the first platforms in the world to receive power from a floating offshore wind farm. This Hywind Tampen wind farm is expected to start operations by the end of 2022.

The move is significant as Equinor has decided to trim its investment due to a sharp decline in oil prices that has declined its cash flow.

In October last year, Equinor and the Snorre and Gullfaks partners had submitted two updated plans for the development and operation to the Norwegian government.

The project will require an investment of about NOK 5 billion. However, the Norwegian government has granted funding of up to NOK 2.3 billion through Enova, while the Business Sector’s NOx fund will fund the project for up to NOK 566 million.

Commenting on the permission from Norway authorities, Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Development & Production Norway, said that “Hywind Tampen is a pioneering project and a central contribution to reducing emissions from Gullfaks and Snorre, and I am pleased that both ESA and Norwegian authorities have approved the project. We are experiencing very challenging times, and we are focusing on continuing our transition effort while attending to and developing the value on the Norwegian continental shelf and at the same time reducing the climate footprint from our operations.”

This project will reduce the usage of gas turbines on the fields, and is likely to trim CO2 emissions by over 200,000 tonnes per year, corresponding to annual emissions from 100,000 private cars.

Speaking on the development, Anders Opedal, executive vice president for Technology, Projects & Drilling, commented that “on behalf of the partners, Equinor has awarded contracts totalling NOK 3.4 billion, subject to final project approval by Norwegian authorities. It is a plus that the oil and gas industry is competitive in renewables projects as well, and the contracts will lead to considerable spinoff effects in Norway.”

Opedal further added that “as the whole industry is currently experiencing much uncertainty, it is vital that we progress projects that spur technology development in the renewables segment and create spinoff effects on the Norwegian supplier industry.”

Moreover, this wind farm will consist of eleven wind turbines based on the Hywind wind farm concept. These wind turbines will have a capacity of 8 MW each and will have an aggregate capacity of 88 MW. It will meet about 35 percent of the yearly electricity demand of the 5 platforms i.e. Snorre A and B and Gullfaks A, B and C.