Norwegian energy major Equinor is proposing to build a floating offshore windfarm that would provide power to its Snorre and Gullfaks fields.
The company believes this could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes per year.
Equinor has completed a study evaluating which oil and gas installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf are best-suited for power from a floating offshore windfarm. The Snorre and Gullfaks fields in the Tampen area in the northern North Sea were found to be the best match.
Equinor executive vice president for new energy solutions, Pål Eitrheim said “Reducing the use of gas turbines by supplying platforms with power from floating offshore wind is a challenging and innovative project. It may also facilitate new industrial opportunities for Norway, Equinor and Norwegian supply industry.
“The Hywind Tampen project would contribute to further development of floating offshore wind technology, reducing costs and making solutions more competitive,” he said.
The solution to be explored is a floating offshore windfarm consisting of 11 wind turbines based on Equinor’s floating offshore wind concept, Hywind. The 8-MW turbines will have a combined capacity of 88 MW and would meet about 35% of the annual power demand of the five Snorre A and B, and Gullfaks A, B and C platforms. In periods of higher wind speed this percentage will be significantly higher.
The preliminary capital and development expenditures for the project are approximately Nkr5Bn (US$600M). If it goes ahead, the project is expected to received support from Norway’s NOx fund.
The Snorre and Gullfaks partners have also applied for support from Enova’s programme for full-scale innovative energy and climate measures.
Equinor’s project director Olav-Bernt Haga said “This is a groundbreaking and challenging project that requires optimisation of the technical solutions and further cost reduction before the partners can make a potential investment decision.”
An investment decision is planned for 2019.
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