New North Sea: Equinor locks-in oars with Eni in Norwegian floating wind bid
World's largest offshore oil operator and Vårgrønn venture made up Italian energy giant prepare bid for Utsira North area
Norway's Equinor is getting ready to throw its hat in the ring to construct a large-scale floating wind farm in the waters off its home shores as it unveiled ambitions to add to its pioneering Hywind Tampen array, now under construction, and original Hywind Demo project.
Equinor signed a collaboration agreement with the Vårgrønn joint venture of Italian oil group Eni with Norwegian energy investment house HitecVision to bid in the Nordic country’s upcoming tender to build a floating wind project in the Utsira North area of the North Sea.
Norway’s energy ministry has recently opened up two areas for offshore renewables – Utsira North and Southern North Sea 2 (Sørlige Nordsjø 2) – and authorities are currently working on the licensing process for offshore wind projects.
“The North Sea has some of the world’s best wind resources. A floating offshore wind farm at Utsira North could be the next project at scale to drive industrialisation of floating offshore wind and create new opportunities for Norwegian industry,” said Equinor New Energy Solutions president Pål Eitrheim.
“As the leading floating offshore wind developer Equinor has the experience and capabilities necessary to develop the next full-scale floating offshore wind farm in Norway after Hywind Tampen.”
"To drive industrialisation through scale for floating wind, we believe that the capacity for the next floating offshore wind projects should be between 300-500 MW," a company press official said.
Equinor and Eni area already partners in the giant Dogger Bank development under construction in the UK part of the North Sea, which once completed will be the world’s biggest wind farm at sea with 3.6GW.
HitecVision and Eni had already worked together in independent oil & gas company Vår Energi.
“We are excited to enter into a partnership with Equinor on floating offshore wind, contributing to the continued development of Norway as a leading energy nation,” said Vårgrønn chief executive Olav Hetland.
“This project will be an essential part of our ambition to own and operate 1GW installed capacity by 2030.
“Developing a home market for offshore wind power, particularly floating, will be important for developing the Norwegian offshore wind supply industry, and positioning new technologies for a growing global market.”
License application guidelines for the tender are expected in June, analyst Clarksons Platou said.
Rival bids in the Norwegian offshore wind tender are expected from Magnora, Aker Offshore Wind, and Fred Olsen Renewables.
"We believe that floating offshore wind could become an enormous market, if costs can be reduced to competitive levels, with room for multiple successful players," Clarksons Platou said in a research note.