GULLFAKS C (E24): On Wednesday, the Hywind Tampen wind farm was opened by Crown Prince Haakon and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. The production from here will be able to cover around 35 per cent of the annual need for electricity on the platforms connected to the Gullfaks and Snorre oil and gas fields.
ON VISIT: Crown Prince Haakon arrives at Gullfaks C in the North Sea on Wednesday for the opening of Hywind Tampen. Photo: Malene Emilie Rustad, E24 Published:
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The Gullfaks and Snorre platforms are thus the first in the world to get power from offshore wind to cut CO2 emissions, according to Equinor.
– We are now standing in the middle of what is the power center for Norway. Sea, wind, sun and gas. It’s a big day, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who is on the platform Gullfaks C during the official opening of Hywind Tampen on Wednesday.
– We create energy that the world needs, says Støre.
Crown Prince Haakon is also present to stand for the actual opening of the facility. The wind turbines, which tower 150 meters above sea level, are located approx. 10 kilometers from here and can be seen on the horizon.
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– This is a day with great hopes, says Støre.
– Oil and gas have supplied the world with energy and contributed to making Norway a successful society. Now we are in the process of writing a new energy chapter, he continues.
The Prime Minister believes that offshore wind offers the opportunity for a new industrial era, and that this is a step on the way to achieving the climate goals and creating more renewable energy. He thanks all those who have persevered through storm and fog, by developing the offshore wind farm “on behalf of us all”.
– What you are showing is what the definition of restructuring is, says Støre.
– Today we are writing history. I meet prime ministers and colleagues from all over the world who look towards Norway.
– A brave investment
Hywind Tampen is Norway’s first full-scale floating offshore wind farm. Production at the plant started in November last year.
The park is located in the North Sea, about 140 kilometers from the nearest land. It consists of 11 turbines, and will have a system capacity of 88 megawatts (MW). This means that the production will be able to cover around 35 per cent of the annual need for electricity on the five platforms Snorre A and B and Gullfaks A, B and C.
– The Snorre and Gullfaks fields are the reason why we built the Hywind dam. They were built in the 1980s and 1990s and are among the largest oil platforms, says Executive Vice President for the Norwegian Shelf Kjetil Hove at Equinor.
– We have managed to contribute to building new industry on the shoulders of the oil industry, he says, and thanks the partners.
IN THE NORTH SEA: Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre greets security manager Steffen Ellingsen on the Gullfaks C platform. Photo: Malene Emilie Rustad, E24
– Hywind Tampen is expected to cut 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually from important oil and gas producers in the North Sea, says Hove.
– It is a brave investment in a pioneering project from the Gullfaks and Snorre partnerships and Enova. The project has given us and the supplier industry valuable experience which will be important when we are to together further develop offshore wind in Norway and globally, and scale up for the future. I want to thank everyone who has contributed, this is industrial development we can be proud of, he says.
Enova and Næringslivet’s NoX-fond have supported the project with NOK 2.3 billion and NOK 566 million respectively to stimulate technological development in offshore wind and emission reductions.
Was more expensive than planned
However, the project has encountered a number of challenges and is becoming more expensive than planned. Equinor estimates the price tag at NOK 7.4 billion.
That is over NOK 2 billion more than the initial calculations showed. The cost increase is due to, among other things, delayed deliveries, a weak krone and quality challenges.
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Smell for Hywind Tampen: The price tag has increased to DKK 7.4 billion.
In connection with the official opening on Wednesday, Equinorat states that the project has significant cost improvements compared to the floating offshore wind farm Hywind Scotland.
Adjusted for the price development since 2016/2017, the investment cost for Hywind Tampen is about 35 percent lower per installed
megawatts, and is thus an important step on the way to making floating offshore wind more competitive, according to Equinor.
SPEAKER: Crown Prince Haakon and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Photo: Malene Emilie Rustad, E24
60 percent of the contract values in the project have been awarded to Norwegian suppliers. Among other things, a shipyard in Stord has cast foundations for the turbines and a shipyard in Verdal has produced the anchors. Sintef researcher John Olav Tande thinks it is great to see that a large proportion of the actors contributing to the offshore wind project are Norwegian.
– This shows that the Norwegian supplier industry is competitive and puts them clearly on the map as possible suppliers for projects outside Norway as well. It will be exciting to see what the Norwegian share will be in the projects that are now coming internationally, including in Scotland, Tande told E24 on Tuesday.
2023-08-23 10:31:09
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