Electrification
Hywind Tampen
The Hywind Tampen project is the first floating offshore wind farm in the world to power a producing oil and gas installation. Owned by the Gullfaks and Snorre partners, the Hywind Tampen wind farm is expected to meet about 35% of the electricity demand of the two oil and gas fields. This is projected to cut CO2 emissions from the fields by about 200,000 tons per year.
On August 23, 2023, Norwegian energy firm Equinor and its partners inaugurated Hywind Tampen, which is also the world's largest floating offshore wind farm. The Hywind Tampen wind farm, where Equinor is partnering with other oil firms including OMV, Vaar Energi, and a majority-owned by ENI, started producing power in November of 2022 with full output reached in August of 2023.
INTOG
Innovation
and Targ eted Oil and Gas (INTOG) aims to help decarbonize the North Sea oil and
gas sector by supporting the building of floating offshore wind farm projects connected to oil
and gas infrastructure (TOG) providing electricity and reducing the carbon
emissions associated with oil and gas production. In March of 2023, the 5.5GW INTOG leasing round provided Scotland with a floating offshore wind
pipeline of 23.3 GW.
INTOG contract awards were determined largely on an open-auction basis and were judged by a combination of price and quality. Option agreements are expected to be offered in 2024. To secure an option agreement, developers must provide a Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS). Information from these Statements will then be published.
The magnitude of this offshore wind energy project pipeline underscores that major industry players believe floating offshore wind will become cost-effective in
areas unsuited for fixed offshore wind technology.
Haiyou Guanlan
On May 20, 2023, CNOOC Limited announced that the Wenchang deep-sea floating wind demonstration project was successfully connected to the grid for power generation. The project's main production facility "Haiyou Guanlan" is China's first deep-water floating wind turbine that provides power to an offshore oil and gas production platform.
The demonstration project is adjacent to the Wenchang oilfields, which is located in the western part of the South China Sea, and 136 kilometers (84.5 miles) offshore in a water depth of 120 meters (394 feet). At an installed capacity of 7.25 MW, the platform production capacity up to 22 million kWh of electricity, equivalent to saving nearly 10 million cubic meters of natural gas and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 22,000 tons per year.
GoliatVIND
GoliatVIND is a floating offshore wind demonstration project that will be located in the Goliat oil and gas field, which is located in the Barents Sea - about 85 kilometers (52.8 miles) northwest of Hammerfest, Norway. Goliat's oil field is known for its harsh conditions and hosting the world's northernmost FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) platform. The objective of GoliatVIND is to further electrify one of Vår Energi's main assets (i.e., Sevan 1000 FPSO) and to send electricity to the mainland to support renewable power generation in Norway's northern county of Finnmark.
GoliatVIND plans to install five 15 MW turbines
each on a steel Deepsea Star semi-submersible foundation at the Goliat oil field site. The floating offshore wind turbines will tie into Vår Energi's existing infrastructure at the Goliat oil field, including a power cable that runs back to the onshore grid.
On March 12, 2024, Source Gallileo Norge, Odfjell Oceanwind, and Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) were awarded NOK 2 billion (US $192 m) in capital from ENOVA, Norway's Climate and Energy Fund. ENOVA's funding requires that GoliatVIND be commissioned within 5 years but the the project's backers are hopeful it will be operational in 2027.
