Equinor and partners at Gullfaks and Snorre have decided to explore the possibilities of supplying the Gullfaks and Snorre fields with power from floating offshore wind. If this happens it would be the first time an offshore wind farm is directly connected to oil and gas platforms.
This projects expects a reduction of CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to the emissions from 100,000 cars.
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Equinor has conducted a study evaluating which oil and gas installations on the NCS can receive power from a floating offshore wind farm. The Snorre and Gullfaks fields in the Tampen area in the northern North Sea are the best match for realising this idea.
Equinor’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions, Pål Eitrheim, stated:
Reducing the use of gas turbines by supplying platforms with power from floating offshore wind is a challenging and innovative project. It may also facilitate new industrial opportunities for Norway, Equinor and Norwegian supply industry within profitable renewable energy, while enabling oil and gas production with low CO2 emissions.
In addition, another solution is on the table. This includes a wind farm with 11 wind turbines based on Equinor’s floating offshore wind concept, Hywind. The 8 MW turbines will have a combined capacity of 88 MW, and can meet about 35% of the annual power demand of the five Snorre A and B, and Gullfaks A, B and C platforms. In periods of higher wind speed this percentage will be significantly higher.
The Snorre and Gullfaks partners have applied for support from Enova’s programme for full-scale innovative energy and climate measures to realise the project.
A possible investment decision will be taken during 2019.
