Steel cutting has started on Equinor’s Hywind Tampen wind farm at Kværner’s yard in Stord, western Norway.
Kværner’s construction responsibilities include 11 floating concrete hulls for the wind turbines.
Hywind Tampen, which will be in the Norwegian North Sea, will be the first floating offshore wind project to supply renewable power for oil and gas installations, according to Equinor.
Total capacity of 88 MW should satisfy around 35% of the annual power needs on the Snorre A and B and Gullfaks A, B, and C platforms.
The goal is to cut emissions from the Gullfaks and Snorre fields by more than 200,000 metric tons/yr.
“By using larger turbines, concrete substructures, new technology and a new assembly method, we’re well on our way toward delivering on the objective to reduce costs by more than 40% compared with Hywind Scotland,” said Hywind Tampen project director Olav-Bernt Haga.
“If more major floating offshore wind projects are realized in the future, it will be possible to reduce costs even further, and we could see a development in cost reductions equivalent to the one we’ve seen in fixed foundation offshore wind.”
Equinor sees a potential for further floating offshore wind projects in Norway, the UK, Europe, the US, and Asia.
When Hywind Tampen project is operational in 2022, the company claims it will be operating one-third of the global floating offshore wind capacity.
Total joins offshore France floating wind farm development
Total has taken a 20% stake in the Eolmed floating wind farm pilot project in the French sector of the Mediterranean Sea. The location is off the coast of Gruissan and close to Port-La-Nouvelle.
Qair is the developer and majority shareholder of the 30-MW scheme. Total says it will contribute its experience in the conception, installation, and operation of offshore installations throughout their life cycle.
Total says that it aims to be a world leader in floating offshore wind, currently participating in projects off South Korea (2 GW in total) and in the UK’s 100-MW Erebus project.
By the end of this year, Total’s gross power generation capacity worldwide should be close to 12 GW, including around 7 GW of renewable energy, with a target to grow to 35 GW of production capacity from renewable sources by 2025.
CVOW project set to enter commercial service
Dominion Energy’s two turbine, 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project has completed reliability testing and is ready to enter commercial service.
The next regulatory step for CVOW is to submit the final documentation for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to complete its technical review, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The turbines will remain in operation during this review process, Dominion said.
Located 27 mi (43 km) off the coast of Virginia Beach, CVOW is the only project currently permitted under the BOEM process and will be the first fully operational wind power generation facility in US federal waters. It is expected to generate enough electricity to power up to 3,000 Virginia homes.
Installation of the two pilot turbines was completed in June. Ørsted served as the offshore engineering, procurement, and construction lead for the pilot project. The L. E. Myers Company, with members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, performed the onshore construction work.
Dominion said it will apply the permitting, design, installation, and operations experience from the pilot project to its proposed 2.6-GW commercial project. That project, which is the largest announced offshore wind project in North America, is on track to start construction in 2024. Upon completion, it is expected to provide enough electricity to power up to 660,000 homes. The company said its construction and operations plan is on schedule to be submitted to BOEM later this year.
Keppel to build renewables vessel
An unnamed energy company has contracted Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. to build a vessel for the offshore renewable energy industry. The engineering, procurement, and construction contract is valued at about S$600 million ($443 million).
The company said this is in line with Keppel Corp.’s Vision 2030, which includes seeking opportunities in providing renewable energy solutions.
Keppel O&M is currently building converter stations and substations to support the offshore wind energy industry in the German North Sea and Taiwan.
It delivered and has a stake in Fred. Olsen Windcarrier’s Blue Tern, a multi-purpose offshore wind turbine installation vessel.
