The world's first offshore wind farm to be powered directly to the oil and gas platform will be completed in Norway, and Norwegian company Equinor plans to build a floating offshore wind farm to direct power to 5 offshore oil and gas platforms in the nearby Gullfaks and Snorre regions. Earlier, Norway intends to start developing offshore wind power with power supply to offshore oil and gas platforms, with further information on the project in the near future.
After a comprehensive study on the Norwegian continental Shelf area, the oil and gas platform in the Tampen Sea area in the northern North Sea is the ideal object for floating offshore wind power, so Equinor chooses the offshore oil and gas platform in Gullfaks and Snorre area as the power supply object. For the platform directly powered by the offshore wind farm for the Hywind offshore wind field (small tip: Not the world's first offshore wind farm Hywind Scotland Pilot Park OH), wind farm will install 11 sets of 8MW offshore wind turbines, the total installed capacity of 88MW. The project follows the Equinor floating offshore wind power design scheme.
It is estimated that the project capacity can meet 5 offshore platforms (Snorre A, B, gullfaks A, B, C) annual electricity consumption of 35%, is expected to reduce the annual CO2 emissions of not less than 200,000 tons, about 100,000 cars year-round emissions. Initially projected total investment of 5 billion Norwegian krone (about 514 million euros), the unit cost of about 5.84 euros/w, this price is higher than the current average cost of offshore wind power, Equinor said it will further study to reduce project costs. The NOx Fund will provide financial support for the project at NOK 566 million, and the Norwegian government, through its policy and state-owned company Enova, has financed the project to encourage the combination of offshore wind power with the oil and gas industry.
While the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms have applied to Enova for a full range of innovative energy and climate response plans, the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas platforms are now in the pipeline for further research and are looking to complete the investment decision by 2019. Enova is a Norwegian state-owned company, which aims to support innovative technologies to address energy, climate change and power supply safety issues. According to statistics from 2012 to 2017 the company has supported 5,243 projects, with a cumulative support of approximately DKK 12.1 billion.
The state's encouragement and support for innovation is the driving force for the continuous development of various industries. The world's first! Norwegian offshore wind farm power will be directly available to nearby oil and gas platforms