Equinor announces plans to build a huge floating wind farm 65 kilometers off the coast of Kollsnes (near Bergen). The company will work together on the project with partners Petoro, TotalEnergies, Shell and ConocoPhillips.
The objective is to have 1 GW of installed capacity by 2027 to provide power to the Troll and Oseberg oil fields. The wind farm will be connected to the mainland, which will allow it to deliver power to the Bergen area.
Trollvind
The first step of the Trollvind project, as Equinor calls it, is a feasibility study. The idea is that project partners would commit to buying power from the wind farm at a price that would make it economically viable. The objective, once the feasibility study is completed, is to invest in the project by the end of 2023 and have it running by 2027.
According to Equinor, such projects are necessary for it to meet its emissions reduction targets (50 per cent reduction by 2030).
A test bed for new technology
According to research scientists from SINTEF and NTNU, research and innovation will bring down the cost of floating wind energy over time, but the work goes hand in hand with developing actual projects in the field. Building floating wind farms provides research and industry with a test bed to try out and further develop solutions.
