Statoil beefs up floater future
Statoil is planning to scale up future floating wind farms larger than its in-construction 30MW Hywind Scotland pilot project to support oil and gas platforms off Norway.
Replacing the gas generators that power its North Sea installations with floating wind turbines could be “the next step” for the technology, the company said.
Statoil wants to reduce its CO2 emissions on the Norwegian continental shelf some three million tonnes by 2030, and a spokesman said “good and creative solutions” were needed to make the most of floating wind technology.
“As we are getting closer to start up of Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind park, we are looking at opportunities to scale that up to an even larger offshore wind park. We will use the experience gained from Hywind Scotland to inform our next steps,” the spokesman said.
Plans are still in an embryonic phase but the company warned that “the right framework conditions” are required before any future development could begin.
The first of five Siemens Gamesa 6MW turbines for Hywind arrived off the coast of Peterhead, Scotland last month.
Hywind is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year.