Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg has initiated construction of the Hywind Tampen floating offshore windfarm. She did so in a ceremony at Kværner Stord, where elements of the windfarm are being manufactured.
Kværner’s scope of work for the project includes building 11 floating concrete hulls for the turbines on Hywind Tampen.
Equinor president and chief executive Eldar Sætre said Hywind Tampen “is a new chapter in Norway’s narrative as an energy nation.
“With support from the Norwegian authorities, we are not only building Norway’s first offshore wind project, we are enhancing floating offshore wind technology along with the Norwegian supplier base.
“80% of the world’s offshore wind resources are located in deep water areas and are available for floating offshore wind projects. If we can use projects like Hywind Tampen to make floating offshore wind competitive with other forms of energy, the technology will be able to deliver renewable power on a large scale. A floating offshore wind market will also open up considerable industrial opportunities for Norwegian industry.”
Hywind Tampen project director Olav-Bernt Haga said, “By using larger turbines, concrete substructures, new technology and a new assembly method, we are well on our way to reducing the cost of floating wind by more than 40% compared with Hywind Scotland. This is an important step to establish floating wind as a sustainable power source.
“If more floating offshore wind projects are realised in the future, it will be possible to reduce costs even further, and we could see a development in cost reduction equivalent to the one we have already seen in fixed-foundation offshore wind.”
In April 2020, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Industry approved plans for development and operation of the Hywind Tampen windfarm, which will be the first floating offshore wind project to supply renewable power for oil and gas installations. Equinor and the Snorre and Gullfaks partners reached a final investment decision to develop the Hywind Tampen in October 2019.
The windfarm will have a total capacity of 88 MW and is expected to cover about 35% of the annual power needs on the five platforms, Snorre A and B and Gullfaks A, B and C. It will reduce emissions from the Gullfaks and Snorre fields by more than 200,000 tonnes per year.
Development of the Hywind Tampen project involves around 250 full-time equivalent jobs at Kværner. The project will also generate around 800 full-time equivalent jobs in ripple effects for suppliers and the public sector, among others. A study conducted by Multiconsult shows that, in total, the Hywind Tampen project could provide 1,550 to 3,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
