The first turbine in the North Sea’s floating wind farm Hywind Tampen began power production on Sunday. Equinor said the farm will power the North Sea platform Gullfaks A.
Seven wind turbines in the wind farm will begin operations in 2022, and the installation of another four wind turbines will start in 2023. The system’s capacity will be 88 MW when finished, according to Equinor. The report says that even with only seven turbines operational, Hywind Tampen will be the world’s largest floating wind farm, with a capacity of 60 MW.
Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s executive vice president for projects, drilling and procurement, said: “I am proud that we have now started production at Hywind Tampen, Norway’s first and the world’s largest floating wind farm.This is a unique project, the first wind farm in the world powering producing oil and gas installations. The Norwegian content of the project is about 60 percent.”
Partners on the Gullfaks and Snorre fields invested in the Hywind Tampen wind farm in 2019. The project aims to meet around 35% of the electricity needs of the two fields from a location between the centres of the two fields. According to an Equinor statement, this will reduce CO₂ emissions from the fields by approximately 200,000 tonnes each year.
The 11 Siemens Gamesa 8.0-167 DD wind turbines will be moored at a site 140 km offshore where winds are consistently stronger in water depths of up to 300 metres. They will be supported by concrete hulls built by Aker Solutions.
Hywind Tampen is 140 kilometres off the coast of Norway, at depths varying from 260 to 300 metres. The Hywind Tampen turbines are mounted on a floating concrete structure that is collectively moored together.
