Suppliers make Hywind possible
As with most of Equinor's major offshore projects, we rely on our suppliers in many countries to deliver the bits and pieces that make up each Hywind unit. Some are especially built for the project, while others come straight from the supplier’s shelves.
The blades and nacelles are brought from Denmark.
The towers that carry the rotors have been constructed at Navacel in Bilbao, Spain. Each wind turbine has four tower sections that connect the turbine with the substructure. When the four sections are connected, they measure 83 meters and weigh approximately 670 tonnes.
15 giant mooring lines have been delivered from Vicinay, just a short journey from Bilbao. These gigantic chains will ensure the substructure is securely fastened to the seabed. Navantia in Fene, Spain built the substructures. They are the largest component of the wind turbines, and are 91 meters long, almost the same height as Big Ben in London.
Apart from some of the mooring chains and the suction anchors, all of components have been transported to Stord in Norway for assembly.
For the shipyard neighbours used to seeing offshore oil and gas installations, the sight of the tall wind turbines under construction altered the skyline quite significantly in the spring and summer of 2017.
After assembly, the wind turbines were towed across the North Sea and onward to the site 30 kilometres off Peterhead, Scotland. Each wind turbine weighs approximately 12,000 tonnes and is 253 metres high from its lowest point on the substructure to the uppermost tip of the blade.
Hywind Scotland came into production in October 2017.
Dimension |
Hywind Demo 2.3 MW Karmøy, NO |
Hywind Scotland 6.0 MW Buchan Deep, UK |
Mass |
5300 tonnes |
11200 tonnes |
Draught |
100 m |
78 m |
Hub height |
65 m |
98 m |
Water depth |
220 m |
105 m |
Substructure Diameter |
8.3 m |
14.4 m |
Rotor diameter |
85 m |
154 m |
Anchor |
Drag embedded anchor | Suction anchor |
Mooring |
Wire/chain | Chain |