Equinor is a global offshore wind major and the world’s leading floating offshore wind developer — a position we intend to keep – being the only company in the world with a running commercial park and another under construction.
Freeing wind power from bottom-fixed designs opens a world of new markets and opportunities. We have the experience and capabilities that are necessary to take floating offshore wind to the industrial level.
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. We employ a technology agnostic approach, meaning we will select the best suited floating wind technology for the given project.
We believe that floating offshore wind is the next wave in renewable energy and that it can achieve profitability by 2030 through scale and industrialization. We are seeking opportunities for floating offshore wind and are developing projects and partnerships in selected markets
For its third consecutive year, Hywind Scotland – the world’s first floating offshore wind farm -reaches the highest average capacity factor for any wind farm in the UK.
Equinor and Vårgrønn have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly apply for offshore wind acreage in Norway for the Utsira Nord area.
The Hywind Tampen project is now moving from Stord to the deep-water site at Dommersnes where the concrete slipforming of the spar-substructures will be completed.
Through twenty years of floating offshore wind experience and innovations, Equinor has developed a set of design principles and solutions that are applicable across floating wind concepts that will enable more local content and industrial standardisation.
As the leading floating offshore wind developer, Equinor’s constant focus is to find out how technology can be deployed cost effectively whilst maximising local benefits. By standardising a set of key design principles and solutions for floating wind, we are taking an important step towards developing competitive full-scale floating wind farms, demonstrating that floating offshore wind is deployable at scale, in different geographies, and cost effective with local adaptability to the supply chain.
The following design principles and solutions for floating wind are viable across the main types of floating concepts:
Equinor is technology agnostic and will select the best suited floating wind concept for its projects. Water depths, available and suitable cost-efficient fabrication yards and ports, and capacities of the local supply chain are primary drivers for selecting a given design.
Building on Hywind, Equinor has developed a new floating concept, the Wind Semi, a semisubmersible wind turbine. Based on our design principles, the Wind Semi will give optimal stability and power production and facilitate large scale industrialisation of floating wind. Additionally, it will allow for local fabrication and assembly, encouraging local supply chain development.
There are two main design concepts of floaters for offshore wind, - spar bouy (left) and semi-submersible (right). Equinor’s common design principles and solutions are applicable across both.
Floating turbines are designed to float in the water allowing offshore wind development where the water is too deep for bottom-fixed solutions.
Most offshore wind floater designs are similar to the ones applied for the oil and gas platforms. Floating turbines are moored to the seabed with multiple mooring lines and anchors, in much the same way as a floating oil platform. Floating wind turbine motion controllers stabilizes the turbine through regulating the turbine blades, optimizing power production and reducing stress on tower, substructure and moorings.
Building and operating in larger scale is key to reducing cost. Between the Hywind Demo and Hywind Scotland, the CAPEX / MW was reduced by 70%, and we expect a further 40% drop between Hywind Scotland and Hywind Tampen. Our primary goal is to further reduce the costs through technological improvements and increasing the scale of projects.
How do our wind turbines float? And why don’t they capsize in a storm?
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 building floating offshore wind facilities have provided us with valuable learnings to build upon. Now we are developing the first wind farm in the North Sea, Hywind Tampen, providing us with additional experience.
Illustration: Shematic diagram and map of Hywind Scotland.
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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.