World's Largest Floating Wind Farm Starts Electricity Production in Norway

The Hywind Tampen floating wind farm, previously estimated at being worth $500 million, is touted as a landmark project by Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor and its newfound green commitment. Tellingly, the wind farm will power several oil and gas fields in operation and cut the equivalent of emissions from 100,000 cars.

Norwegian energy company Equinor has started generating power from what will become the largest floating offshore wind farm in the world at 88 MW off the coast of the Nordic country.

The first power at the Hywind Tampen wind farm was generated on Sunday, delivering electricity to the Gullfaks A oil platform in the North Sea, the company said in a statement.

Already by the end of the year, the wind farm will reach a capacity of 60 MW, surpassing Scotland’s Kincardine (50 MW) as the world’s largest floating wind farm. Full capacity will be reached early next year, as all eleven turbines will be set up when the weather permits.

“This is a unique project, the first wind farm in the world to supply electricity to oil and gas installations in operation,” Geir Tungesvik, Equinor vice president responsible for projects, drilling and procurement, said in a statement.

The wind farm is expected to meet 35 percent of the power demand of the Gullfaks and Snorre oil and gas fields in the North Sea, cutting 200,000 tons of annual carbon dioxide emission, which corresponds to 100,000 private cars running on fossil fuel, Equinor director of project development Trond Bokn told Norwegian media.

Bokn called the project a landmark for Norwegian industry as in indicates Equinor’s restructuring and commitment to the Green shift. Bokn also envisaged an “enormous” potential for Norwegian jobs and Norwegian industry in the future.

Kjetil Hove, Equinor executive vice president for exploration and production, argued the wind park was an important contribution to changing the Norwegian continental shelf, stressing that the idea of powering oil and gas platforms from floating platforms was inconceivable only a few years ago.

However, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research is worried about uncertain consequences for the ecosystem and is assessing how exactly it is affected by offshore wind power. In the meantime, researchers have advised against offshore wind farms in the vicinity of key spawning areas due to noise from the turbines.

Norway is one of the world's leaders in exports of energy resources, covering about 2 percent of global oil demand and 3 percent of natural gas demand. Following the EU’s sanctions campaign against Russia over its special op in Ukraine, Norway rose to the role of the bloc’s premier supplier — to the point of being accused of profiteering by fellow European nations, such as Poland. At present, there are about 90 fields in production on the Norwegian shelf.

Headquartered in Stavanger, state-owned Statoil with some 20,000 employees used to primarily be a petroleum company. However, in 2018, it rebranded itself as Equinor to reflect its newfound commitment to green energy, equality and diversity.

Since then, it voiced massive ambitions to become a world leader in offshore wind power. Following Hywind Tampen, whose construction has previously been estimated to cost NOK 5 billion ($500 million), Equinor hinted that the next step would be a park of up to 500 MW, nearly seven times larger.