Oil and gas first for floating offshore wind farm

Equinor and the Snorre and Gullfaks partners have made a final investment decision (FID) for the Hywind Tampen offshore wind farm development and two updated plans for development and operation (PDO) have been submitted to the Norwegian authorities.

The oil and gas platforms will be the first ever powered by a floating offshore wind farm. The wind farm will be located some 140 km from shore in 260–300 metres of water between the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms.

‘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,’ says Eldar Sætre, CEO, Equinor.

The Hywind Tampen investments will total almost NKr5bn ($0.54bn).

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% 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 will help cut carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by more than 200,000 t/y, equivalent to the annual emissions from 100,000 passenger cars, according to Equinor.

‘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 realising the Hywind Tampen project,’ notes Nylund.

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

Partners in the Gullfaks licence are Equinor (51%), Petoro (30%) and OMV (19%); and in the Snorre licence, Equinor (33.3%) Petoro (30%), ExxonMobil (17.5%), Idemitsu (9.6%), DEA Norge (8.6%) and Vår Energi (1.1%).

See also https://knowledge.energyinst.org/search/record?id=112808

Illustration of the Hywind Tampen project – dimensions and distances are not to scale
Source: Equinor