Norwegian oil firm brings online world’s first floating wind farm

Norwegian oil and gas company, or in this context, energy company, Statoil, has brought online the world’s first floating offshore wind farm – the Hywind Scotland.

According to Statoil, the wind farm, to be officially opened on the 18^th October by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has started to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid.

The 30MW wind farm, operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar, is located 25 kilometres offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire and will power approximately 20,000 households.

“Hywind can be used for water depths up to 800 metres, thus opening up areas that so far have been inaccessible for offshore wind. The learnings from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy.

“Through their government’s support to develop the Hywind Scotland project, Scotland and the rest of the UK and are now at the forefront of the development of this exciting new technology. Statoil looks forward to exploring the next steps for floating offshore wind,” said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of the New Energy Solutions business area in Statoil.

In an opening event in Aberdeen the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon officially opens the world’s first floating wind farm. “I am delighted to open Hywind Scotland – the world’s first floating wind farm. Hywind will provide clean energy to over twenty thousand homes and will help us meet our ambitious climate change targets.

“This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland. Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government’s commitment to the development of this technology and, coupled with Statoil’s Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world centre for energy innovation,” the First Minister said.

“Statoil has an ambition to reduce the costs of energy from the Hywind floating wind farm to €40-60 €/MWh by 2030. Knowing that up to 80% of the offshore wind resources are in deep waters (+60 metres) where traditional bottom fixed installations are not suitable, floating offshore wind is expected to play a significant role in the growth of offshore wind going forward,” Ms Rummelhoff said.