Next step for Hywind Tampen

This week started the transport of the 11 substructures from the Aker Solutions yard at Stord where the first 20 meters have been built to the deep-water site at Dommersnes where the slipforming work will continue to 107,5 meters.

Hywind Tampen is an 88 MW floating wind power project intended to provide electricity for the Snorre and Gullfaks offshore field operations in the Norwegian North Sea. Hywind Tampen will be the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm and the world’s first to power offshore oil and gas platforms. It is also the first floating wind project from Equinor using concrete technology for wind projects.

“The project represents a direct transfer of technology from oil- and gas to renewable. The giant Troll A substructure was 369 meters. Now we are building 11 small Trolls. The project is on schedule despite the challenges around covid-19,” says Olav-Bernt Haga, Equinor’s project director for Hywind Tampen.

2021 is the year of manufacturing for this pioneer project. Whilst the structures are being built at Stord and Dommersnes, the steel anchors are being welded together at Aker Solutions yard in Verdal. The nacelles, blades and turbine towers will be produced in Europe and shipped to Wergelands base in Gulen.

The substructures will be towed to Gulen when the slipforming and mechanical completion work is completed at Dommersnes.

In 2022 all the elements will be collected at the site in Gulen and the assembly work will start using what is probably the largest crane that has been onshore in Norway.

“We plan to start towing the completed wind turbines to Tampen early summer of 2022 and complete the offshore work by the end of the year. This is a large and complex industrial project where we use our experience from oil and gas projects,” says Haga.

As a global major in offshore wind with decades of experience in developing offshore energy - oil and gas, Equinor is uniquely placed to drive forward the global development of floating offshore wind.

In 2009, Equinor installed the first ever floating offshore wind turbine, and Hywind Scotland followed in 2017 as the world’s first commercial floating offshore wind farm.

As the operator of Hywind Tampen, Equinor will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the wind farm.