Hywind Demo (now sold to Unitech)
Ten years of successful operations confirmed and verified the Hywind concept off the coast of Norway.
Freeing wind power from bottom-fixed designs opens a world of new markets and opportunities. With tried and tested floating wind turbines already in production, we are the world’s leading floating offshore wind developer — a position we intend to keep.
Floating turbines can be placed almost anywhere where the water is deeper than 60 metres, harnessing the best wind resources and opening new sites to power generation.
We believe that floating offshore wind is the next wave in renewable energy – and that our offshore experience from the North Sea and around the world makes us uniquely qualified to lead the way and further develop floating offshore wind.
How do our wind turbines float? And why don’t they capsize in a storm?
Illustration: Shematic diagram and map of Hywind Scotland.
Today, floating offshore wind is a viable and mature solution ready for market. We believe in a rapid acceleration in growth—just as we have witnessed in other wind and renewable technologies. Together with the industry, we aim to make it a competitive renewable energy source.
As a technology-agnostic developer, we will select the substructures and designs for our floating wind installations best suited to the local conditions where they will be used.
Our experience with the Hywind demo floating wind turbine and the Hywind Scotland wind farm has given us valuable experience to build on. Now we are developing the first wind farm in the North Sea, Hywind Tampen, to power offshore oil and gas installations. See below for more details.
The Hywind design
Hywind is a great example of what we can achieve by combining our existing offshore expertise with new and available technologies and innovative minds. Thoroughly proven through years of testing, it is the world’s most viable floating wind turbine design, consisting of a giant wind turbine placed on top of a floating vertical spar.
Hywind is a unique offshore wind technology, consisting of a mix of available technology and new patents developed and owned by Equinor.
Hywind is the most established design of floating turbine today, verified through eight years of successful operations of our demo turbine offshore Karmøy, Norway, and subsequently further optimised for the Hywind Scotland wind farm.
Click the links below to read more: