Norwegian power giant, Equinor has developed the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm. The name of this huge offshore wind farm is Hywind Tampen. It consists of 11 8.6 megawatts (MW) turbines and the location is about 140 kilometres off the coast of Norway. The wind farm was first activated yesterday. It stands at water depths between 260 and 300 meters. The current seven turbines at the wind farm are scheduled to be commissioned this year. Also, the latter four were assembled this fall. The remaining units will also be commissioned in 2023 if the weather permits.
According to reports, this 94.6-megawatt project costs 488 million euros. It will provide electricity to the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas fields in the Norwegian North Sea. Thus, it will also be the world’s first floating oil and gas platform to power an offshore oil and gas platform. The wind farm is expected to meet 35% of the annual electricity needs of the five platforms.
Equinor asserts that Hywind Tampen will reduce the need for natural gas to generate electricity. Thus, it will reduce the field’s CO2 emissions by about 200,000 tons per year. This is equivalent to the emissions of 100,000 cars.
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Norway will not abandon its oil and gas exploration
Norway has always been at the forefront of the field of new energy. For example, the number of electric vehicles per capita ranks first in the world. Also, car companies such as Xiaopeng, NIO, Lantu, BYD, and Tesla are all in the country. These companies all have good sales.
The company plans to develop 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2040. However, the country is also Western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer. There are reports that the oil sector accounts for about 40% of Norway’s exports and 14% of its GDP. Norway’s government has said it is committed to reducing the country’s net emissions by 55 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030. This is in line with EU goals. But unlike its neighbours, Norway claims it will gradually shift to clean energy. Nevertheless, Norway has no intention of giving up oil and gas exploration.
