Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor has inaugurated the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm in the Norwegian North Sea.

The 88MW project will be the largest floating wind farm in the world. The electricity generated will power Equinor’s oil and gas fields.

The wind farm will support the company in reducing costs in its oil and gas operations.

Located 140km from the coast in a water depth of 260 to 300m, it features 11 turbines, each with 8MW power generating capacity, mounted on floating concrete structures with a common anchoring system.

The wind farm began power generation in November 2022 and is now fully operational.

This project will be managed by Equinor's office location in Bergen. It is expected to meet 35% of the annual energy demands of five of Snorre and Gullfak's oil and gas fields.

Norwegian climate agency Enova and the Norwegian business sector's NoX fund provided Nkr2.3bn ($216.7m) and Nkr566m ($53.3m) respectively for the project.

Equinor Norwegian continental shelf executive vice-president Kjetil Hove stated: “Hywind Tampen is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions with 200,000 tonnes annually from key oil and gas producers in the North Sea. It is a bold investment in a pioneering project from the Gullfaks and Snorre partnerships and Enova.

“The project has given us and the supplier industry valuable experience that will be important when we work together to develop offshore wind further in Norway and globally, scaling up for the future. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed. This is an industrial development we can be proud of.”

The wind farm will also act as a test bed to advance the development of floating wind. It will help in studying the use of larger turbines, installation methods and concrete substructures, and the integration of gas and wind power generation systems.